A Naturalist's Notes on a Trip up the Orinoco 



Bv (J E (.) K (i E K. V 11 E U K 1 E 



Till-' iinturnlist nii<i-ht travel far 

 hct'ore linding as interesting a 

 region for research as that 

 along the middle stretches of the Ori- 

 noco Kiver in Venezuela. Plant and 

 animal life ahound in great variety, al- 

 though the vegetation is less luxuriant 

 than in the delta of the river, where 

 a trojiical growth of forest replaces the 

 llanos or plains which, through the 

 middle section, form the great grazing 

 lands for which Venezuela is famous. 



Contrary to popular belief, the Ori- 

 noco is a very large river. A little be- 

 low Caicara, which is about four hun- 

 dred miles above the mouth, I have 

 sometimes spent a whole day in cross- 

 ing, zigzagging among the innumerable 

 islands. This was during the rainy sea- 

 son when the water was at its highest 

 point. Undoubtedly at that place the 

 river was then forty miles wide. The 

 annual rise varies from sixty to eighty 

 feet, and the banks being low, the water 

 spreads over an immense territory, in- 

 undating hundreds of thousands of 

 acres. At such a time — when one is 

 pushing his canoe up stream — many of 

 the apparent islands are really only the 

 tops of tall trees, from fifty to sixty feet 

 high, protruding above the water. It is 

 difficult to comprehend that these are 

 not islands in fact. Even the birds do 

 not always seem to realize how rapidly 

 the waters rise, for many build their 

 nests on dry land which is later sub- 

 merged. Consequently a great number 

 of these nests with their eggs and young 

 are lost. Often I have noted orioles 

 building their homes twenty-five feet 

 above the water, yet by the time the 

 eggs were hatched the nests were washed 

 away and the young drowned. 



As the floods begin at the headwaters 

 of the river and its tributaries about 

 the last of April, and continue to rise 



steadily until about the first or middle 

 of September, one can see the level of 

 the water increase day after day. Rats 

 and other creatures have a chance to 

 get back out of harm's way; but even 

 these sometimes are compelled to stay 

 where they are, because they have not 

 taken advantage of the gradual rise of 

 the water and, perhaps being on a little 

 higher ground or a knoll, are sur- 

 rounded before they know it. 



We spent four months making the 

 ascension of the Orinoco. Steamers are 

 available now, but in those days, seven- 

 teen or eighteen years ago, the only re- 

 liable mode of travel was by canoe or 

 native boats of one kind or another. 

 The few steamers then on the river had 

 no regular schedule, running only when 

 they had a sufficient cargo — or some 

 other particular reason. We had our 

 own canoe, manned by native men. It 

 is always advisable to employ men who 

 are familiar with the river. While there 

 might not be any particular risk in 

 pushing one's own canoe up stream, 

 there is possible danger of being swept 

 across rapids and falls. For instance, 

 if one's canoe were on the wrong side 

 of the river and, while being pulled 

 through a small rapid or waterfall by 

 means of ropes, should encounter some 

 ol)struction, such as a large rock in the 

 middle of the rapid, the prow might be 

 forced out into the river and the canoe 

 capsized. I prefer a native Indian or 

 Spaniard for manning the dugout ca- 

 noe. The Indians are semicivilized and 

 lazy, but even so they are better than a 

 large percentage of the half-breeds. In- 

 dians in Venezuela, except those at the 

 headwaters of the rivers in the interior, 

 nil speak more or less Spanish. Even 

 A\hen they cannot speak the language, 

 they sometimes understand it. 



Our canoe, or bungo, which was a 



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