ON THE AMAZON AND RIO NEGRO. 109 



between armed bodies of horse and foot ; and further, that the Com- 

 misario of San Fernando has been removed from his post, and that a 

 person is on his way to replace him. I have therefore no great con- 

 fidence in the execution of our project, but I shall go as well prepared 



as I can for making the observations desirable in case of my ascending 

 the Orinoco above Esmeralda. 



I told you of the great scarcity of provisions at San Carlos, in con- 

 sequence of w^hich I sent some time ago as far as the cataracts of 

 Maypure to buy an ox, and have the salted flesh brought to me. 

 It is only very lately that it reached me ; and though it has more the 

 appearance of thongs of leather than of beef, and is tough and strong- 

 tasted, it is exceedingly acceptable, and it came at a time when neither 

 fish nor flesh of any kind was to be had at San Carlos. Though thus 

 relieved from the necessity of spending half my time in the search of 

 eatables, I have found very little to do in the way of collecting. So long 

 as the rainy season lasted, scarcely a tree was to be seen in flower. We 

 ai'e now entering on the summer, as we call it here, though the amount 

 of rain that falls daily is scarcely diminished; and the trees by the river 

 are flowering, but the predominant species are the same as those of 

 San Gabriel, and by the Eio Uaupes, from its mouth to the base of the 

 the first falls. In the angle between the Eio Negro and Casiquiare, I 

 have got some Mosses and He^paticm that have interested me much. 

 As my predilection for these tribes is known to many, you may perhaps 

 have been asked whether I was doing anything in them, and if I in- 

 tended to distribute the species. I have hitherto avoided alluding to 

 Mosses in my communications to you, because the number was so few 

 that I had no idea of their ever summing up to a quantity worth the 

 trouble of distribution. On the Alto Eio Negro I have been more 

 successful, and I now think that some day or other I may make up 

 sets of those Mosses and Hepaticse which I have gathered in sufficient 

 quantity. Of Mosses the number of species is still small, considering 

 the space of ground passed over, and how sharply I have looked for 

 them during four years of travel. I suppose that in all this time I 

 have not gathered more Mosses than I could have gathered in a month 

 in a space of fifty miles' diameter in any part of Europe. Tet all are 

 interesting, and a good many will be new. The general character of 

 the Crjptogamic vegetation ou the Amazon and Eio Negro seems to 

 be quite that of Demerara and Surinam, and to bear little resemblance 



