246

ARRIVAL AT ANGOSTURA.

On arriving at the capital, they hastened to present themselves to Don Felipe de Ynciarte, the governor of Guiana, who received them in the most obliging manner. A painful circumstance forced them to remain a whole month in this place. They were both, a few days after their arrival, attacked by a disorder, which in M. Bonpland assumed the character of a typhoid fever. A mulatto servant, who had attended them from Cumana, was similarly affected. His death was announced on the ninth day; but he had only fallen into a state of insensibility, which lasted several hours, and was followed by a salutary crisis. Humboldt escaped with a very violent attack, during which he was made to take a mixture of honey and the extract of Cortex angostura. He recovered on the following day. His fellowtraveller remained in a very alarming state for several weeks, but retained sufficient strength of mind to prescribe for himself. His fever was incessant, and complicated with dysentery; but, in his case too, the issue was favourable. At this period no epidemic prevailed in the town, and the air was salubrious; so that the germ of the disease had probably been caught in the damp forests of the Upper Orinoco.

Angostura, so named from its being placed on a narrow part of the river, stands at the foot of a hill of hornblende-slate destitute of vegetation. The streets are regular, and generally parallel to the course of the stream. The houses are high, agreeable, and built of stone; although the town is not exempt from earthquakes. At the period of this visit the population was only 6000. There is little variety in the surrounding scenery; but the view of the river is singularly majestic. When the waters are high they inundate the quays, and it sometimes happens that even in the streets imprudent persons fall a prey to the crocodiles, which are very nume

rous.

Humboldt relates that, at the time of his stay at

Angostura, an Indian from the island of Margarita having gone to anchor his canoe in a cove where there were not three feet of water, a very fierce crocodile that frequented the spot seized him by the leg and carried him off. With astonishing courage he searched for a knife in his pocket, but not finding it, thrust his fingers into the animal's eyes. The monster, however, did not let go his hold, but plunged to the bottom of the river, and, after drowning his victim, came to the surface and dragged the body to an island.

The

The number of individuals who perish annually in this manner is very great, especially in villages where the neighbouring grounds are inundated. same crocodiles remain long in the same places, and become more daring from year to year, especially, as the Indians assert, if they have once tasted human flesh. They are not easily killed, as their skin is impenetrable,—the throat and the space beneath the shoulder being the only parts where a ball or spear can enter. The natives catch them with large iron hooks baited with meat, and attached to a chain fastened to a tree. After the animal has struggled for a considerable time, they attack it with lances.

Affecting examples are related of the intrepidity of African slaves in attempting to rescue their masters from the jaws of these voracious reptiles. Not many years ago, in the llanos of Calabozo, a negro, attracted by the cries of his owner, armed himself with a long knife, and, plunging into the river, forced the animal, by scooping out its eyes, to leave its prey and take to flight. The natives, being daily exposed to similar dangers, think little of them. They observe the manners of the crocodile as the torero studies those of the bull; and quietly calculate the motions of the enemy, its means of attack, and the degree of its audacity.

The general nature of the vast regions bordering on the Orinoco may be sufficiently learned from the

248

JOURNEY FROM ANGOSTURA.

above condensed narrative; and we think it unnecessary to follow our learned author through his description of that portion of the river which extends from Angostura to its mouths, especially as it is not founded on personal observation.

CHAPTER XX.

Journey across the Llanos to New-Barcelona.

Departure from Angostura-Village of Cari-Natives-New-BarcelonaHot Springs-Crocodiles-Passage to Cumana.

Ir was night when our travellers for the last time crossed the bed of the Orinoco. They intended to rest near the little fort of San Rafael, and in the morning begin their journey over the llanos of Venezuela, with the view of proceeding to Cumana or New-Barcelona, whence they might sail to the island of Cuba, and thence again to Mexico. There they purposed to remain a year, and to take a passage in the galleon from Acapulco to Manilla.

The botanical and geological collections which they had brought from Esmeralda and the Rio Negro had greatly increased their baggage; and as it would have been hazardous to lose sight of such stores, they journeyed but slowly over the deserts, which they crossed in thirteen days. This eastern part of the llanos, between Angostura and Barcelona, is similar to that already described on the passage from the valley of Aragua to San Fernando de Apure; but the breeze is felt with greater force, although at this period it had ceased. They spent the first night at the house of a Frenchman, a native of Lyons, who received them with the kindest hospitality. He was employed in joining wood by means of a kind of glue

TO NEW-BARCELONA-CARIBS.

249

called guayca, which resembles the best made from animal substances, and is found between the bark and alburnum of the Combretum guayca, a kind of creeping plant.

On the third day they arrived at the missions of Cari. Some showers had recently revived the vegetation. A thick turf was formed of small grasses and herbaceous sensitive plants, while a few fanpalms, rhopalas, and malpighias, rose at great distances from each other. The humid spots were distinguishable by groups of mauritias, which were loaded with enormous clusters of red fruit. The plain undulated from the effect of mirage, the heat was excessive, and the travellers found temporary relief under the shade of the trees, which had, however, attracted numerous birds and insects.

On the 13th July they arrived at the village of Cari, where, as usual, they lodged with the clergyman, who could scarcely comprehend how natives of the north of Europe should have arrived at his dwelling from the frontiers of Brazil. They found more than 500 Caribs in the hamlet, and saw many more at the surrounding missions. They were of large stature, from five feet nine inches to six feet two. The men had the lower part of the body wrapped in a piece of dark-blue cloth, while the women had merely a narrow band. This race differs from the other Indians, not only in being taller, but also in the greater regularity of their features, in having the nose less flattened, and the cheek-bones less prominent. The hair of the head is partially shaven, only a circular tuft being left on the top,a custom that might be supposed to have been borrowed from the monks, but which is equally prevalent among those who have preserved their independence. Both males and females are careful to ornament their persons with paint. The Caribs, once so powerful, now inhabit but a small part of the country which they occupied at the time when

America was discovered. They have been exterminated in the West India islands and the coasts of Darien, but in the provinces of New-Barcelona and Spanish Guiana have formed populous villages, under the government of the missions. Humboldt estimates the number inhabiting the llanos of Piritoo and the banks of the Caroni and Cuyuni at more than 35,000, and the total amount of the pure race at 40,000.

The missionary led the travellers into several huts, where they found the greatest order and cleanliness, but were shocked by the torments that the women inflicted on their infants, for the purpose of raising the flesh in alternate bands from the ankle to the top of the thigh; a practice which the monks had in vain attempted to abolish. This effect was produced by narrow ligatures, which seemed to obstruct the circulation of the blood, although it did not weaken the action of the muscles. The forehead, however, was not flattened, but left in its natural form.

On leaving the mission the philosophers had some difficulty in settling with their Indian muleteers, who had discovered among the baggage the skeletons brought from the cavern of Ataruipe, and were persuaded that the animals which carried such a load would perish on the journey. The Rio Cari was crossed in a boat, and the Rio de Agua Clara by fording. The same objects everywhere recurred; huts constructed of reeds and roofed with skins: mounted men guarding the herds: cattle, horses, and mules running half wild. No sheep or goats were seen, these animals being unable to escape from the jaguars.

On the 15th they arrived at the Villa del Pao, where they found some fruit-trees as well as cocoapalms, which properly belong to the coast. As they advanced the sky became clearer, the soil more dusty, and the atmosphere more fiery. The intense