A NIGHT ON THE BEACH. 73 



cane comes, these groves of bamboo exchange an aspect 

 of beauty for that of grandeur. They are heaved and 

 tossed like the billows of tlie sea, and their rich foliage, 

 driven in every direction, appears like surges breaking on 

 the rocks." * 



We can convey to our readers but a faint concep- 

 tion of the richness and exuberance of the vegetation 

 which forms a belt of varying width along the banks 

 of the Llanos. So interested had we been in the coimt- 

 less objects of attraction which were continually coming 

 before us as we moved down the stream, that we were 

 scarcely conscious of the flight of time. Tlie sun had al- 

 ready disapjjeared behind the deep-green wall of verdure 

 before we hauled up our canoe upon a stony beach for the 

 night. A fire was soon blazing from the drift-wood which 

 lined the shore, and the odor of stewing beef and plan- 

 tains foretold the evening meal. The impenetrability of 

 the matted woods obliged us to sleep upon the rocky 

 bank of the stream, where we spread our blankets as far 

 as possible from the water, that we might lessen the 

 chances of our furnishing a banquet to the various cai- 

 mans which filled the river, and at night sought the shore. 

 Truly not a comforting reflection to haunt our dreams, 

 that we were momentarily liable to be aroused from our 

 slumbers just in time to find ourselves within the capacious 

 jaws of one of these cannibalistic monsters, the next mo- 

 ment to be crushed out of existence. The scaly saurians 

 must have bent their steps that night in quest of other 

 game, for were mained undisturbed by them, but fell a 

 prey to a not much less dreaded enemy — sancudos — which 

 swarmed the river-banks. 



Responding to the call of our patron at the earliest 

 dav/n, we reembarked. So, floating down, the half-wake- 



* " Adventures in Soutii and Centi'il Aiaei-Ica." Paez, 

 4 



