172 CLOUDS OF M08QUITO8. 



ance of little flics, or of the genus Simulium, but zancudos, 

 which are really gnats, though very different fioin our Euro- 

 pean species.* These insects appear only after sunset. Their 

 proboscis is so long that, when they fix on the lower surface 

 of a hammock, they pierce through it and the thickest gar- 

 ments with their sting. 



"We had intended to pass the night at the Vuelta del 

 Palmito, but the number of jaguars at that part of the 

 Apure is so great, that our Indians found two hidden 

 behind the trunk of a locust-tree, at the moment when they 

 were going to sling our hammocks. We were advised to 

 re-embark, and take our station in the island of Apurito, 

 near its junction with the Orinoco. That portion of the 

 island belongs to the province of Caracas, while the right 

 banks of the Apure and the Orinoco form a part, the one of 

 the province of Varinas, the other of Spanish Gruiana. We 

 found no trees to which we could suspend our hammocks, 

 and were obliged to sleep on ox-hides spread on the ground. 

 The boats were too narrow and too full oizancudos to permit 

 us to pass the night in them. 



In the place where we had landed our instruments, the 

 banks being steep, we saw new proofs of the indolence of 

 the gallinaceous birds of the tropics. The curassaos and 

 cashew-birds f have the habit of going down several times 

 a-day to the river to allay their thirst. They drink a great 

 deal, and at short intervals. A vast number of these birds 

 had joined, near our station, a flock of parraka pheasants. 

 They had great difficulty in climbing up the steep banks ; 

 they attempted it several times without using their wings. 

 We drove them before us, as if we had been driving sheep. 

 The zamuro vultures raise themselves from the ground with 

 great reluctance. 



We were singularly struck at the small quantity of water 

 which the Bio Apure furnishes at this season to the Ori- 

 noco. The Apure, which, according to my measurements, 

 was still one hundred and thirty-six toises broad at the Cano 

 Bico, was only sixty or eighty at its mouth.* Its depth 



* M. Latreille has discovered that the mosquitos of South Ca: olina are 

 of the genus Simulium (Atractocera meigen.) 



* The latter (Crax pauxi) is less common than the former. 



Not quite so broad as the Seine at the Pont Royal, opposite th 



