WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 259 



other species of vulhire are gregarious, the aura vulture 

 is not. 



If you dissect a vulture that has just been feeding on 

 carrion, you must expect that your olfactory nerves will be 

 somewhat offended with the rank effluvia from his craw ; 

 just as they would be were you to dissect a citizen after 

 the Lord Mayor's dinner. If, on the contrary, the vulture 

 be empty at the time you commence the operation, there 

 will be no offensive smell, but a strong scent of musk. 



I had long wished to examine the native haunts of the 

 Cayman ; but as the river Demerara did not afford a 

 specimen ,of the large kind, I was obliged to go to the 

 river Essequibo to look for one. 



I got the canoe ready, and went down in it to George- 

 town ; where, having put in the necessary articles for the 

 expedition, not forgetting a couple of large shark-hooks, 

 with chains attached to them, and a coil of strong new 

 rope, I hoisted a little sail, which I had got made on 

 purpose, and at six o'clock in the morning shaped our 

 course for the river Essequibo. I had put a pair of shoes 

 on to prevent the tar at the bottom of the canoe from 

 sticking to my feet. The sun was flaming hot, and from 

 eleven o'clock till two beat perpendicularly upon the top 

 of my feet, betwixt the shoes and the trousers. Not 

 feeling it disagreeable, or being in the least aware of 

 painful consequences, as I had been barefoot for months, I 

 neglected to put on a pair of short stockings which I had 

 with me. I did not reflect, that sitting still in one place, 

 with your feet exposed to the sun, was very different from 

 being exposed to the sun while in motion. 



We went ashore in the Essequibo, about three o'clock in 

 the afternoon, to choose a place for the night's residence, 

 to collect firewood, and to set the fish-hooks. It was then 

 that I first began to find my legs very painful : they soon 



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