40 THREE DAYS ON THE ORINOCO, &C. 



Rising up, hastily, I answered by a shout ; which, however, met with 

 no echo. Another shot, but more distant ; and the revulsion of my 

 thronging hopes nearly produced fainting. Again, the sound came 

 close upon me ; when, rounding one of the rocks, a small canoe, rowed 

 by my faithful Zambos, with the padrone in the stern, rushed upon 

 my ravished sight. They were looking eagerly round, occasionally 

 discharging a musket. So much was I bewildered by the certainty 

 of the scene, that I even neglected to hail them as they glided about 

 a hundred yards from me ; and when I did strive to call out, my 

 voice was nearly choked with emotion, so that at first they did not 

 hear me. As their distance from me was rapidly increasing, I became 

 fully roused, and shouting with all my might, or rather screaming, I 

 was answered by a loud and joyful halloo. The canoe was instantly 

 put back ; and, after considerable efforts, I found myself on board, 

 shaking hands with the brave fellows, in whose eyes tears of gladness 

 were glistening ; nor were my own unmoistened. 



Their desertion had been quite unwitting. The boat had been 

 drifted down the river ; nor did they awake till she ran foul in a 

 grove of palms, and injured herself so materially, that the whole of 

 the following day was spent in repairing her. They had hurried their 

 return, but had been impeded by adverse winds, and by the rising 

 current. The mist had much perplexed them on the second day ; 

 and, as soon as it had partially cleared away, the captain, with the 

 Zambos, had put off in the canoe, in order that they might make rapid 

 way, and search more closely the shores, leaving the crew to bring 

 up the vessel more leisurely. 



They offered me for food the flesh of an iguana, as the greatest de- 

 licacy they possessed ; but the remembrance of the two that had been 

 fellow-occupants of the zamang-tree, prevented me tasting it, and I 

 proceeded slowly to satisfy myself with dried beef. In a few hours 

 we joined the boat, with shouts of gladness. I was infinitely gratified 

 by the attachment shewn to me by the men. Their anxiety for my 

 safety had been extreme ; and they had toiled laboriously to rescue 

 me under circumstances which might have almost justified my 

 abandonment. 



The shock of these events had been too great for me ; the bodily 

 exposure, the mental torture I had undergone when the excitement 

 was passed away left me seriously ill. Till our arrival on the even- 

 ing of the following day at Carichana, I was attended most sedulously 

 by the whole crew in turns. There I landed, intending to remain 

 whilst the vessel proceeded up the river; and to join them on 

 their return, and again pursue my journey to the extreme navigable 

 parts of the Orinoco. For many days I was in a state of great danger. 

 Under the care of a native doctor, my recovery went on slowly ; and 

 nearly six weeks elapsed before I felt myself capable of rejoining my 

 companions, who had made their voyage, and had now been waiting 

 for me nearly a fortnight. The mighty stream had now attained its 

 greatest elevation ; and, as we glided over its agitated surface, the 

 cool breezes operated most beneficially upon me, and, upon reaching 

 Atures, I had regained my lost health and strength. G * 



