"94 A NATURALIST IN rilE GUIANAS 



say that a small boat would have but a poor chance 

 of reaching the shore if struck by the chubdsco when far 

 from land. 



At ten on the morning of the 8th we reached the Torno ; 

 the place is also called La Puerta del Inferno (The Gates 

 of Hell). At this spot the banks of the Orinoco contract 

 and become bold and rocky. The immense volume of 

 water forces its way through the iron-bound shores which 

 confine it ; sometimes boiling and bubbling, sometimes 

 in swift eddies, it pours through the serrated rocks form- 

 ing the bed of the stream at these gates of Hades. The 

 little ' Caura ' trembled in every beam when she struck 

 the first whirlpool. Twice she turned almost right round 

 like a cork on the waters, and we were borne back to 

 the * Gates ' by the force of the current. We were more 

 fortunate on our third attempt, but it was slow work 

 getting through this dangerous passage. Above the 

 Torno the river is again grand and majestic. Our captain 

 kept close to the bank to avoid the current in the middle 

 of the stream, and this allowed us to amuse ourselves by 

 shooting at the alligators basking on the sand, or at the 

 Carreteros which stalked in pairs along the shore. These 

 large ducks owe their name to their peculiar call-note, 

 resembling the hoarse noise of a driver urging his animals 

 forward. I managed to shoot two of them with a 

 Winchester rifle, and we had roast wild-duck that day for 

 dinner. The Carretero is good eating, but it should not 

 be cooked on the same day on which it is killed, for it is 

 then tough and without flavour. Although alligators are 

 fairly plentiful in the Orinoco, and we saw several and 

 killed some, yet the lower part of the stream is not the 

 best place to kill numbers of these descendants of the 

 gigantic saurians who held sway over the animal kingdom 



