piMicnrN. . 167 



enccd great difficulty in those humid regions in taking ob- 

 servations ; for frequently many days in succession the sun 

 could not be observed through the thick fogs and clouds 

 which hovered over the forests. 



The road from Javita to Pimichin, which runs directly 

 through the forest, is only with much labor kept free from 

 vegetation, that would soon, in this fostering soil, blockade 

 the way. At least once a year, the entire population of 

 the villages near either terminus of the road turn out 

 en masse, with axes, machetes, and brooms, and the path, 

 over twenty feet in width along its entire length of three 

 leagues, is cleared from vegetation and all obstruction, 

 and the whole swept clean of leaves and rubbish. Logs, 

 hewn upon the upper surface and roughened so as to offer 

 a secure footing, are stretched across the marshes and 

 streams. A cross marks the half-way point between the 

 termini. As far as this, the inhabitants of Javita keep the 

 road repaired ; while the villages of the Upper Rio Negro 

 attend to the other half. No indication of life and enter- 

 prise awakened in us such a feeling of surprise as this 

 truly royal road, cut through the virgin forest, and con- 

 necting the civilization of the Orinoco with that of the 

 Rio Negro and Amazons. Some geographers have laid 

 down a mountain-range as running lengthwise of this 

 isthmus. On the contrary, this water-shed is low, with 

 slight elevations, scarcely noticeable as the ground is 

 walked over. In these marshy grounds and tangled thick- 

 ets, we were told that venomous serpents were most abun- 

 dant, and that the black tiger, an animal fiercer and bolder 

 than the spotted jagiaar of the Orinoco, was not unfre- 

 quently encountered. 



By 11 A. M. we reached Pimichin, a hamlet of two 

 houses, besides the casa real, a dilapidated building. 

 Here w^delayed only a short time, but, loading <©ur cargo 

 into a boat the size of the one abandoned at Javita, in 



