210 NOCTURNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



they are the terror of tho families of monkeys and of the prehen- 

 sile-tailed viverra, the Cercoleptes. I borrow these notices from 

 journals written at the time in German, and which were not entirely 

 exhausted in the Narrative of my Travels, which I published in tii<- 

 French language. They contain a detailed description of the noc- 

 turnal life, or perhaps I might rather say, the nocturnal voices, of 

 the wild animals in the forests of the torrid zone; which appears to 

 me particularly suited to form part of a work bearing the title of the 

 present volumes. That which is written down on the spot, either in 

 the immediate presence of the phenomena, or soon after the recep- 

 tion of the impressions which they produce, may at least lay claim 

 to more life and freshness than can be expected in recollections. 



Descending from west to east the Rio Apure, the overflowings 

 of whose waters and the inundations produced by them were noticed 

 in the chapter on Steppes and Deserts, we arrived at its junction 

 with the Orinoco. It was the season of low water, and the average 

 breadth of the Apure was only a little more than twelve hundred 

 English feet, yet I found the Orinoco at the confluence of the two 

 rivers, not far from the granite rock of Curiquima, where I was able 

 to measure a base line, still upwards of 11,480 French (12,180 En- 

 glish) feet wide. Yet this point, i. e. the Kock of Curiquima, is 

 four hundred geographical miles in a straight line from the sea and 

 from the Delta of the Orinoco. Part of the plains watered by the 

 Apure and the Pagara are inhabited by tribes of the Yaruros and 

 Achaguas, who, as they persist in maintaining their independence, 

 are called savages in the mission villages established by the monks : 

 their manners, however, are scarcely more rude than those of the 

 Indians of the villages who, although baptized, and living "under 

 the belP ; (baxo la compana), are still almost entirely untaught and 

 uninstructcd. 



On leaving the Island del Diamante, in which Zambos who speak 

 Spanish cultivate sugar-canes, we entered on scenes of nature charac- 

 terized by wildness and grandeur. The air was filled with countless 

 flocks of flamingoes (Phoanicopterus) and other water birds, which 

 appeared against the blue sky like a dark cloud with continually va- 

 rying outlines. The river had here narrowed to between 900 and 

 1000 feet, and flowing in a perfectly straight line, formed a kind of 



