OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 103 



to Humboldt were already under water; and in 

 a remarkable manner the great explorer and his 

 friends were preserved from a watery grave. 



Tho Orinoco, though still about 194 miles 

 from its source, is here very broad, and near 

 Pararuma the pilot would not proceed further. 

 Humboldt hired another ship from a missionary, 

 and continued his journey on the upper Orinoco 

 on the 20th of April. The difficulties and 

 dangers they had to encounter were numerous 

 and varied : first, the inadequate room of their 

 ship ; the fires they had to keep in the night, 

 in order to chase away the jackals, who sur- 

 rounded their resting-place ; the oppressive 

 heat ; the troublesome mosquitoes ; and other 

 inevitable impediments, too numerous to relate. 

 Baron Humboldt said, in retrospect of these 

 days, " that only a naturally cheerful disposi- 

 tion, mutual kindness, and a soul alive and 

 susceptible to grand scenes of nature's beauty, 

 could vanquish such difficulties and privations." 



An unusual rise of the river afforded Hum- 

 boldt an opportunity of instituting observations 

 regarding the condition of the waters. On his 

 voyage on the upper Orinoco, the ship passed 

 several smaller rivers its tributaries ; espe- 

 cially the greater Meta, which much resembles 

 the Danube. They passed the city of Atures, 



