312 WATEE-S5AKEB. 



or ten feefc high ; they are concealed by a row of pal.ns, andf 

 small trees with slender trunks, the roots of which are bathed 

 by the waters. There are many crocodiles from the point 

 where you quit the Orinoco to the mission of San Fernando, 

 and their presence indicates that this part of the river be- 

 longs to the Eio Ghiaviare and not to the Atabapo. In the 

 real bed of the latter river, above the mission of San 

 Fernando, there are no crocodiles: we find there some 

 lavas, a great many fresh-ivater dolphins, but no manatis. 

 We also seek in vain on these banks for the thick- 

 nosed tapir, the araguato, or great howling monkey, the 

 zamuro, or Vultur aura, and the crested pheasant, known by 

 the name of guacharaca. Enormous water-snakes, in shape 

 resembling the boa, are unfortunately very common, and are 

 dangerous to Indians who bathe. "We saw them almost 

 from the first day we embarked, swimming by the side of 

 our -canoe ; they were at most twelve or fourteen feet long. 

 The jaguars of the banks of the Atabapo and the Temi are 

 large and well fed ; they are said, however, to be less daring 

 than the jaguars of the Orinoco. 



The night of the 27th was beautiful ; dark clouds passed 

 from time to time over the zenith with extreme rapidity. 

 Not a breath of wind was felt in the lower strata of the 

 atmosphere ; the breeze was at the height of a thousand 

 toises. I dwell upon this peculiarity ; for the movement we 

 saw was not produced by the counter-currents (from west to 

 east) which are sometimes thought to be observed in the 

 torrid zone on the loftiest mountains of the Cordilleras ; it 

 was the effect of a real breeze, an east wind. We left 

 the conucos of Ghiapasoso at two o'clock ; and continued to 

 ascend the river toward the south, finding it (or rather that 

 part of its bed which is free from trees) growing more and 

 more narrow. It began to rain toward sunrise. In these 

 forests, which are less inhabited by animals than those of 

 the Orinoco, we no longer heard the howlings of the mon* 

 keys. The dolphins, or toninas, sported by the side of our 

 boat. According to the relation of Mr. Colebrooke, the 

 Delphinus gangeticus, which is the fresh-water porpoise of 

 the Old World, in like manner accompanies the boats that 

 go up towards Benares ; but from Benares to the point 

 w'aere the Ganges receives the salt waters is only two him 



