EXPERIENCES UPON THE PAYAEA. 90 



But, to return from this zoological digression. In the 

 season of inundation, the native who wishes to cross the 

 Llanos, instead of following the sinuosities of the rivers, 

 whose boundaries are generally marked by wooded banks, 

 themselves often submerged, turns his canoe in the direction 

 of his destination, and, by known land-iiiarks that rise above 

 the spreading waters, or, when these are wanting, by the 

 sun in the heavens, guides his bark across the country. 

 While distance is thus generally saved, dilliculties are not 

 unfrequently encountered — sliallow water and tangled 

 thickets, which impede the progress of the voyager. The 

 traveller from San Fernando to Urbana, by traversing 

 the flooded lands of the Apure and Arauca, escapes stem- 

 ming some twenty leagues of the strong current of the 

 Orinoco. Although the waters had considerably subsided, 

 our natives chose the shorter route, as it would lead them 

 more direct to their llano home. Over this wide expanse 

 of water we now pushed ; at times following the channel 

 of a stream, again threading our way across broad plains, 

 covered with grasses, the tops just rising above the sur- 

 face of the floods. The aspect of the country was dreary 

 in the extreme ; a flat, monotonous v>\aste upon every side, 

 sweeping to the horizon ; the eye finding relief only now 

 and then as it rested upon a clump of palms, lifting them- 

 selves above the waters, or a line of trees, marking the 

 course of some river. Vast herds of wild cattle were 

 seen, which, at our approach, would go plunging and swim- 

 ming through the w^ater. The amphibious life these ani- 

 mals lead at the season of inundation is a remarkable 

 feature in their existence. The flora of this region j^re- 

 sentcd nothing striking, and but few species of flow^ering 

 plants wvre found. This is characteristic of the Llanos, 

 v.'hich produce little, aside from sedges and grasses, upon 

 their level expanse. 



Toward the close of our first day's adventures upon 



