BUMMER-SLEEP OF CROCODILES. 197 



than the mouth of the Meta; while from the Mission of 

 Uruana t ic mountains approach the eastern bank more and 

 more. As the strength of the current increases in propor- 

 tion as the river grows narrower, the progress of our boat 

 became much slower. We continued to ascend the Orinoco 

 under sail, but the high and woody grounds deprived us of 

 the wind. At other times the narrow passes between the 

 mountains by which we sailed, sent us violent gusts, but of 

 short duration. The number of crocodiles increased below 

 the junction of the Bio Arauca, particularly opposite the 

 great lake of Capanaparo, which communicates with the 

 Orinoco, as the Laguna de CabuUarito communicates at the 

 same time with the Orinoco and the Eio Arauca. The 

 Indians told us that the crocodiles came from the inlands, 

 where they had been buried in the dried mud of the 

 savannahs. As soon as the first showers arouse them from 

 their lethargy, they crowd together in troops, and hasten 

 toward the river, there to disperse again. Here, in the 

 equinoctial zone, it is the increase of humidity that recalls 

 them to life ; while in Georgia and Florida, in the temperate 

 zone, it is the augmentation of heat that rouses these 

 animals from a state of nervous and muscular debility, 

 during which the active powers of respiration are suspended 

 or singularly diminished. The season of great drought, im- 

 properly called the summer of the torrid zone, corresponds 

 with the winter of the temperate zone ; and it is a curious 

 physiological phenomenon to observe the alligators of North 

 America plunged into a winter-sleep by excess of cold, at 

 the same period when the crocodiles of the Llanos begin 

 their siesta or summer-sleep. If it were probable that 

 these animals of the same family had heretofore inhabited 

 the same northern country, we might suppose that, in ad- 

 vancing towards the equator, they feel the want of repose 

 after having exercised their muscles for seven or eight months, 

 and that they retain under a new sky the habits which appear 

 to be essentially linked with their organization. 



Having passed the mouths of the channels communicat- 

 ing with the lake of Capanaparo, we entered a part of the 

 Orinoco, where the bed of the river is narrowed by the 

 mountains of Baraguan. It is a kind of strait, reaching 



