142 COMPLICATED EVILS. 



of Pemichin. Following the current, they shot 

 into the Rio Negro, on which they descended to 

 Fort St Charles. From this point again they re- 

 mounted by the Cassiquiari to the river Oronooko, 

 and reached the mission of Esmeralda, whence 

 they descended on the swelling stream to its mouth. 

 This navigation down the Oronooko was the most 

 painful and oppressive. They suffered from want 

 of provisions during the day, and were drenched 

 with torrents of rain during the night. Forced to 

 seek shelter or a miserable subsistence among the 

 woods, they were incessantly tormented by mos- 

 quitoes and countless varieties of noxious and loath- 

 some insects. Nor could they venture to seek 

 relief by bathing their parched bodies in the flood, 

 since voracious fish and crocodiles watched them 

 on every side. After escaping such complicated 

 evils, and the dangerous effects of the exhalations 

 caused by the burning sun, Humboldt and Bon- 

 pland returned to Cumana by the plains of Cari and 

 the mission of the Caribs, a race of men quite dis- 

 tinct from any other, and perhaps, next to the 

 Patagonians, the largest and stoutest in the whole 

 world. 



Such is the outline given of the first expedition 

 of these two young men. The bare statement 

 makes us feel what heroic courage and dauntless 

 zeal must have inspired them. " Tantus amor." 



