"VEEY BAD" TO WASH BEFOEE BKEAKPAST. qq 



of Alvino, our ever-watclifiil guardian, was heard, as- 

 suring us it was " niui/ malo " (very bad) to wash before 

 breakfast, as it brought on the calenture, or fever. This 

 superstitious notion we found very prevalent among the 

 people of the Llanos ; but, notwithstanding tlie warning 

 of our patron, who was evidently neither a Pharisee nor 

 a holder of their traditions, we went on with our bath. 

 Unfortunately for our side of the question, two of the 

 party eventually were prostrated with the calenture^ when 

 the old sage shook his hoary head in confirmed conviction 

 of the fulfilment of his predictions. Generally we landed 

 but once during the day for a meal, and that for break- 

 fast, about nine or ten o'clock ; our dinner — if the hour 

 v/ill allow the name — being taken when we bivouacked for 

 the night. 



Upon the morning referred to above, we delayed 

 several hours, while our boatmen gathered smooth, silicious 

 stones of an oval shape, and large blocks of sandstone. 

 The latter, when hollowed upon one side, together with 

 one of the smaller stones, form primitive mills, such as 

 are seen in every Venezuelian hut. Upon the Llanos, 

 where nothing more compact than sand can be obtained, 

 these stones command a good price ; the larger size, in 

 weight about fifteen pounds, bringing from two to three 

 pesos each, and the smaller ones, of two pounds, twenty- 

 five cents apiece. As the remuneration received from us 

 by our patron was not large, we Avillingly acceded to his 

 wish to collect the stones ; and, after our arrival at Baul, 

 we had the satisfaction of knowing that he realized a 

 good compensation for his labors. 



With our extra ballast we again got under vv'ay, 

 gliding down through the forest channel, now no longer 

 silent, but awakened by Nature's gay-plumaged vocalists, 

 loquacious parrots and paroquets. Aquatic birds covered 

 the water and stalked the shore ; vtdiile alligators, with 



