108 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE 



the reception of your kind letter of March 31st of the present year, in- 

 forming me of the safe arrival of my sendings from San Gabriel, To- 

 morrow a person leaves San Carlos for the Barra, and as I do not expect 

 another opportunity before starting up the Casiquiare, I profit by it to 

 inform you of my movements. I have just finished building a boat 

 with a large cabin^ all of boards, and not covered in with palm-leaves, 

 as is customary here. The boat is 11 varas (Spanish) long, and it is 

 narrower and shallower than the one in which I came up from the 

 Barra. On the top of the cabin I shall be able to dry a good many 

 plants, and within it to stow them away when dried, if indeed the mos- 



will 



The 



Plora will no doubt be very interesting : everything that is not Hum- 

 boldtian will be new : and as I shall be the first naturalist to ascend 

 the Casiqniare, and must of necessity creep along the river's edge, I 

 may reasonably expect to see many things which a person descending 

 the stream, and of course keeping near the middle, would unavoidably 

 overlook. But I am told that I shall be unable to do anything on the 

 voyage, and that I shall have enough to do to beat off the mosquitos. 

 Even on land it is necessary to keep in movement ; and instead of 

 sitting down to eat a meal, one must walk about^ platter in hand, and 

 be content to swallow a considerable seasoning of mosquitos along with 

 one's victuals. Since the waters of the Casiquiare began to fall, we 

 have had no small share of mosquitos at San Carlos, and as I write, my 

 hands and face are pretty well painted by them. It is not merely the 

 pain and irritation these insects cause, which render them annoying, 

 nor that after allowing them to suck away at your face for some time 

 you put up your hand to brush them off and draw it away covered 

 with blood; but, beyond this, they get into your eyes, nose, and mouth, 

 so that you absolutely cannot tell what you are about. 



In my last letter I mentioned that I had arranged to accompany the 

 Commisario Geral of San Fernando in an expedition to the sources of 

 the Orinoco, which was to come off next year ; but he writes to me 

 now that he is preparing a large boat, in which he intends to put 

 twenty oars and ten soldiers, with the intention of joining me at Esme- 

 ralda. We have also news from Caracas, that the whole of the north 

 of Venezuela is in a state approaching civil war, consequent on the 

 recent election of a new president, against whom there is a strong 

 party in the country, and that sanguinary conflicts have taken place 



