OUR ROUTE. 59 



But WO must forego these general remai'ks, and, an- 

 ticij^ating the expectations of our readers, I'ecount some 

 of the experiences and incidents which make up the his- 

 tory of our voyages upon these rivers. Let ns first briefly 

 designate the route pursued across the continent. From 

 Puerto Cabello, Ave made the passage of the Cordilleras 

 to the head-w^aters of the Pao, a tributary of the Apure, and 

 passed down that river to its confluence with the latter, and 

 then down the Apure to the Orinoco. Then we ascended 

 that river, dragging our canoes around the cataracts en- 

 countered near its middle waters, and ci'ossed by a portage 

 of ten miles to the Rio Negro.* Down the black waters of 

 the Rio Negro we floated to the Amazons, and then, ex- 

 changing our little craft for a steamer, passed down that 

 majestic river to the sea. The distance traversed was 

 over three thousand miles, with obstacles to overcome 

 that can only be conceived of by those who have pene- 

 trated into the trackless wilds of these almost unfrequent- 

 ed regions. Much of the journey was performed by 

 canoe across inundated plains, where the sun is the only 

 guide to the traveller ; through flooded forest, penetrable 

 only as a path is opened with the axe ; and upon impetuous 

 and rock-obstructed rivers. Our bed at night was often 

 the bank of some stream, or in the deep gloom of the for- 

 est, with the roaring of crocodiles, the plaintive cry of 

 monkeys, and the howl of tigers to lull us to sleep. More- 

 over, the climate of the interior was exceedingly hot and 

 malarious, and means of transportation were so limited 

 that scarcely sufiicient could be carried to meet our most 

 urgent necessities during our protracted voyage of four 

 months. 



Our first care was to dispatch to the States every thing 

 excepting what would be absolutely indisj^ensable to us 



* This portage might have been avoided by following the Cassiquiare, 

 a circuitous water-channel, which unites the waters of the two rivers. 



