ACCOMMODATION ON BOARD. 215 



annihilated. The human understanding exhibits only dif- 

 ferent degrees of strength and development. The savage, 

 like the child, compares the present with the past; he 

 directs his actions, not according to blind instinct, but 

 motives of interest. Reason can everywhere enlighten 

 reason ; and its progress will be retarded in proportion as 

 the men who are called upon to bring up youth, or govern 

 nations, substitute constraint and force for that moral 

 influence which can alone unfold the rising faculties, calm 

 the irritated passions, and give stability to social order. 



We could not set sail before ten on the morning of the 

 10th. To gain something in breadth in our new canoe, a 

 sort of lattice-work had been constructed on the stern with 

 branches of trees, that extended on each side beyond the 

 gunwale. Unfortunately, the toldo or roof of leaves, that 

 covered this lattice-work, was so low that we were obliged 

 to lie down, without seeing anything, or, if seated, to sit 

 nearly double. The necessity of carrying the canoe across 

 the rapids, and even from one river to another ; and the fear 

 of giving too much hold to the wind, by making the toldo 

 higher, render this construction necessary for vessels that 

 go up towards the Bio Negro. The toldo was intended to 

 cover four persons, lying on the deck or lattice-work of 

 brush-wood ; but our legs reached far beyond it, and when it 

 rained half our bodies were wet. Our couches consisted of 

 ox-hides or tiger-skins, spread upon brandies of trees, which 

 were painfully felt through so thin a covering. The fore 

 part of the boat was filled with Indian rowers, furnished 

 with paddles, three feet long, in the form of spoons. They 

 were all naked, seated two by two, and they kept time in 

 rowing with a surprising uniformity, singing songs of a 

 sad and monotonous character. The small cages contain- 

 ing our birds and our monkeys, the number of which aug- 

 mented as we advanced, were hung some to the toldo 

 and others to the bow of the boat. This was our travelling 

 menagerie. Notwithstanding the frequent losses occasioned 

 by accidents, and above all by the fatal effects of exposure 

 to the sun, we had fourteen of these little animals alive at 

 our return from the Cassiquiare. Naturalists, who wish to 

 collect and bring living animals to Europe, might cause 

 to bo constructed expressly for this purpose at Ango 



