58 A NATUKAIJST IN THE GUIANAS 



prepare for our journey as quickly as possible. I was 

 very agreeably disappointed, if I rnay so express myself, 

 at the courtesy and consideration shown me by the 

 Administrador de Aduana,^ General Barroeta Briceno, 

 whom I found to be an affable and enlightened gentleman. 

 As a rule, getting through a Venezuelan Custom-house 

 is a trying ordeal, and when one is accompanied by such 

 a miscellaneous collection of baggage as is required for a 

 long expedition like the one I had in view, the collector 

 of Customs can give the traveller a great deal of trouble 

 before he finishes with him. On the present occasion, 

 however, I had no difficulty, as I have just remarked, in 

 getting my baggage through, so that I was able to devote 

 a part of the afternoon to strolling through the town, 

 while my men attended to the transport of our trunks 

 and boxes to the Hendersons' store. Ciudad-Bolivar is 

 situated on the right bank of the Orinoco, at a distance 

 of 240 miles from its mouth. Its altitude above sea-level 

 is inconsiderable, its mean average temperature about 80°, 

 and its population nearly 9,000. The town itself is built 

 on a hill, to the east of which lies an extensive lagoon. 

 To those who associate expanses of stagnant water reeking 

 with decaying vegetable matter with certain diseases such 

 as malaria, it comes as a surprise to find that Ciudad- 

 Bolivar is a fairly healthy town. This fact is worth 

 mentioning because swamps appear, in different localities, 

 to have widely different effects on the healthiness or 

 unhealthiness of the districts in their vicinity. Why, 

 for instance, should the inhabitants of Los Castillos be 

 subject to a deadly form of malaria while those of Ciudad- 

 Bolivar enjoy immunity from that disease ? Both are 

 situated on sandy arid hills, both have lagoons towards. 

 ' Collector of Customs. 



