28 THHEE DAYS ON THE ORINOCO, 



came up, and assisted him in extricating me from my perilous situa- 

 tion ; but so completely exhausted and in such dreadful pain, that I 

 verily believed I was dying. For a length of time I lay panting, 

 momentarily expecting to breath my last. It was not till the night 

 was far advanced that I could stand at all ; and even then I tottered 

 about as weak as an infant. I found, as soon I was capable of in- 

 quiring, that I had incautiously and unknowingly jumped into a 

 small lake, inhabited by the gymnotus or electrical eel, which infests 

 many of the streams and pools in the Llanos and their borders. 

 These fish, which here grow to the length of five or six feet, are the 

 curse of the neighbourhood near which they harbour, not unfrequently 

 proving fatal to horses and mules that have to ford the rivers. So 

 powerful is the shock they are capable of giving, that had I been 

 more, extensively covered by the folds of the one by which I had been 

 attacked, it is very probable I should at once have sunk under its influ- 

 ence, and perished. 



The following morning I had a violent paroxysm of fever, brought 

 on, doubtless, by my fright and imprudent immersion. This de- 

 tained us two days, as I found myself incapable of sitting on a 

 mule till it was passed away. I was much weakened by this mis- 

 fortune, and the remainder of the way was got over by riding. 

 We now occasionally fell in with the Caribbee missions, located 

 in various places of the Llanos, and now and then with the ha- 

 cienda of some large cattle proprietor, generally placed either on 

 the bank of a small stream tributary to Rio Pao now, however, 

 nearly, if not quite dry; or on some brackish spring, which served to 

 keep in luxuriant vegetation, palms, mimosse, and various grasses. 

 We were every where received with cordial hospitality, and every 

 thing done to assist and refresh me. The country now became more 

 broken; an appearance, something resembling a fog bank, indicated 

 we were rapidly approaching the slight elevations Ibordering the Rio 

 Pao, and extending to the Orinoco. As we entered on this region, 

 it looked like paradise to me, so completely was I wearied in body 

 and depressed in mind, by the passage of the Llanos. I looked 

 eagerly forward to embarking on the river, believing that the 

 breezes flowing along its course would do something towards ridding 

 me of my ague. Having forded the Pao with some difficulty, which 

 we found swarming with crocodiles, we at length came in sight of the 

 mighty Orinoco, looking like an arm of the sea, and descended to its 

 shores, intending to cross it to the small town of Muitaca, on its 

 southern bank. After some delay, a boat descending the river to 

 Angostura, loaded with produce from the higher regions, took us on 

 board, and shooting obliquely across the stream, deposited us at our 

 place of destination. Here I was again compelled to wait for a time, in 

 consequence of my deranged health: the place was tolerably salubrious, 

 and the delay did not much disturb me, as several weeks were yet 

 wanting to the season when the navigation of the river was most free. 

 I took all the means in my power to entirely free myself from illness, 

 which interfered very materially with my progress, and still more 

 materially with my comfort. I remained till the middle of April, 

 making short excursions amongst the Sierras, occupying the im- 

 mense delta formed by the bend of the river northwards. 



