LOST IN THE LLANOS. 109 



As soon as their instruments were unloaded they let 

 the mules go to search for water, a common custom in 

 the Llanos. They followed them till they came to one 

 of the pools from which the water they had drunk was 

 drawn. They longed impatiently to take a bath, but 

 found only a great pool of feculent water, surrounded 

 with palm-trees. The water was turbid, though a little 

 cooler than the air. Accustomed during their long jour- 

 ney to bathe whenever they had an opportunity, often 

 several times in a day, they hastened to plunge into the 

 pool. They had scarcely begun to enjoy the coolness of 

 the bath, when a noise which they heard on the opposite 

 bank, made them leave the water precipitately. It was 

 an alligator plunging into the mud. 



They were only at the distance of a quarter of a league 

 from the farm, yet they continued walking more than 

 an hour without reaching it. They perceived too late 

 that they had taken a wrong direction. Having left it 

 at the decline of day, before the stars were visible, they 

 had gone forward into the plain at hazard. They were 

 provided with a compass, and it might have been easy 

 for them to steer their course from the position of 

 Canopus and the Southern Cross ; but unfortunately 

 they were uncertain whether, on leaving the farm, they 

 had gone towards the east or the south. They attempted 

 to return to the spot where they had bathed, and again 

 walked three quarters of an hour without finding the 

 pool. They sometimes thought they saw fire on the 

 horizon ; but it was the light of the rising stars enlarged 

 by the vapours. After having wandered a long time in 

 the savannah, they resolved to seat themselves beneath 

 the trunk of a palm-tree, in a spot perfectly dry, sur- 



