174 SAN FERNANDO DE APURE. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Voyage down the Rio Apure. 



San Fernando Commencement of the Rainy Season Progress of At- 

 mospherical Phenomena Cetaceous Animals Voyage down the Rio 

 Apure Vegetation and Wild Animals Crocodiles, Chiguires, and 

 Jaguars Don Ignacio and Donna Isabella Water-fowl Nocturnal 

 Bowlings in the Forest Caribe-fish Adventure with a Jaguar Ma- 

 natees Mouth of the Rio Apure. 



THE town of San Fernando, which was founded 

 only in 1789, is advantageously situated on a large 

 navigable river, the Apure, a tributary of the Ori- 

 noco, near the mouth of another stream which 

 traverses the whole province of Varinas, all the pro- 

 ductions of which pass through it on their way to 

 the coast. It is during the rainy season, when the 

 rivers overflow their banks and inundate a vast ex- 

 tent of country, that commerce is most active. At 

 this period the savannas are covered with water to 

 the depth of twelve or fourteen feet, and present the 

 appearance of a great lake, in the midst of which 

 the farm-houses and villages are seen rising on 

 islands scarcely elevated above the surface. Horses, 

 mules, and cows perish in great numbers, and afford 

 abundant food to the zamuros, or carrion vultures, 

 as well as to the alligators. The inhabitants, to 

 avoid the force of the currents, and the danger 

 arising from the trees carried down by them, in- 

 stead of ascending the course of the rivers, find it 

 safer to cross the flats in their boats. 



San Fernando is celebrated for the excessive heat 

 which prevails there during the greater part of the 

 year. The travellers found the white sand of the 

 shores, wherever it was exposed to the sun, to have 



