168 A NATURALIST IN THE GUI AN AS 



When we were ready to load the boats we found that 

 it would be impossible to do so in the stream where we 

 had left them on our arrival, as the month had been a 

 very dry one and there was but little water at the landing- 

 place. In addition to the three dug-outs we had brought 

 with us, I had purchased a large one on my arrival at 

 La Prision, and Medina had lent me his small curiara. 

 They were all taken out to the Caura itself, and there 

 the tedious operation of loading was performed. At ten 

 o'clock on the morning of the 22nd we were ready to 

 start. We shook hands with the people of the settlement 

 who had come to the river to see us off, and then we took 

 our places in the boats, this being a matter that had been 

 discussed and definitely arranged beforehand. The ex- 

 pedition consisted of twenty persons in all, nineteen men 

 and one woman. The introduction of this apple of discord 

 into the elements of the expedition was an experiment 

 of my partner in the rubber venture of the Nichare. 

 ' This woman,' he told me when I left Ciudad-Bolivar, 

 ' is the one thing you want to make the rubber business 

 a success. She was born and bred in rubber surroundings. 

 Besides,' he added, * she can cook and wash clothes. I 

 have written to my agent at Puerto Antonio Liccioni 

 about her. She will be ready to accompany you when 

 you get there.' And this was how the expedition came 

 to possess a female expert in rubber. Her Spanish name 

 was Juana, and she was supposed to be the goods and 

 chattels of one Pio, whom she had brought with her. 

 Having presented the lady I will introduce the gentlemen, 

 who might be specified as belonging to three categories : 

 those without clothes, those with the remains of clothes, 

 and those with clothes of a sort. We, that is Loiigacre, 

 Jacobson, the taxidermist, the men from Trinidad, and 



