26 THREE DAYS ON THE ORINOCO, 



Descending from the high land, I again sought the marshy shores 

 of the Caribbean Sea, and, after a variety of accidents by " flood and 

 field," was landed in December, 1824, at Cumanafrom a small vessel 

 loaded with tobacco and maize. Our passage had been anything but 

 agreeable ; the captain, as he was styled, being a fierce-looking 

 Creole, who apparently moved about from point to point, with many 

 objects in view beyond the mere carriage of his cargo. I was, how- 

 ever, put on shore safely enough, with two Zambos as attendants. 

 Hitherto, in many trying situations, I had found them brave and 

 faithful, and I had determined on carrying them with me throughout 

 the whole of my intended journey. It was the more fortunate I had 

 brought them with me from a distance, as this placed a sort of bar- 

 rier between them and their fellows, many of whom were moving 

 about the town and the surrounding district, subsisting by robbery 

 too often, when resisted, accompanied by murder. 



I seemed destined to be plagued with sickness. On my passage I 

 had been seized with intermittent fever, not severe, but the fits 

 coming on at very inopportune times, and gradually weakening me, I 

 was naturally desirous of getting rid of it before I proceeded to a 

 district, which, at least, was not very likely to prove curative. In 

 fact, the course of the Orinoco has ever been notorious for engender- 

 ing low fevers; and a knowledge of this protracted my stay at Cu- 

 mana much beyond what I had originally intended. It was not till 

 the beginning of March that I thought myself sufficiently invigorated 

 to start; during that period I had liberally dosed myself with Angos- 

 tura bark and cinchona ; and, though my attacks were become irre- 

 gular, and often, very long intervals passed between them, still they 

 did occasionally come on. I trusted, however, to the excitement of 

 the journey, and to the hope of gaining the Orinoco about the com- 

 mencement of the rainy season, which would enable me to make ra- 

 pid progress ; and, at the same time, be much more salubrious than 

 earlier in the season. 



After having completed all my preparations, I set out on the 8th 

 of March, attended by my two Zambos, an Indian guide, and eight 

 mules, carrying luggage and water. On the first day we cleared the 

 mountain range separating us from the Llanos of Cumana. Few 

 sights are more imposing than that presented by the uniform aspect 

 of these vast savannahs, unbroken for nearly 300 miles by any emi- 

 nence sufficiently lofty to arrest the eye as it wanders over a brown, 

 and apparently barren waste, till it joins the horizon. During the 

 first day's progress, this monotony was broken by here and there a 

 solitary palm erecting itself high over the waste, indicating the bed of 

 a small spring now, however, perfectly dry ; and by the occasional 

 passage of herds of cattle, which were slowly retiring to the less 

 parched borders of the wilderness. It was the middle of the dry sea- 

 son, vegetation was totally checked, whilst the remains of the plants 

 which a few weeks before had covered the surface of the earth, had 

 become so many sources of dust. There was no wind ; but little 

 currents of air were incessantly playing along the scorched ground, 

 raising low clouds of dust, which were exceedingly annoying. The 

 mirage too often presented strange appearances to us ; but my guide 



