UPSET BY A SQUALL. 139 



were on the point of going down. One side of the boat 

 was under water, which rushed in with such violence 

 that it was soon up to their knees. It washed over a 

 little table at which Humboldt was writing at the stern 

 of the boat. He had some difficulty in saving his journal, 

 and in an instant they saw their books, papers, and dried 

 plants, all afloat. Bonpland was lying asleep in the 

 middle of the canoe. Awakened by the entrance of 

 the water and the cries of the Indians, he understood the 

 danger of their situation, whilst he maintained a coolness 

 which he always displayed in the most difficult circum- 

 stances. The lee-side righting itself from time to time 

 during the squall, he did not consider the boat as lost. 

 He thought that, were they even forced to abandon it, 

 they might save themselves by swimming, since there 

 were no crocodiles in sight. Amidst this uncertainty the 

 cordage of the sail suddenly gave way. The same gust 

 of wind, that had thrown them on their beam, served also 

 to right them. They laboured to bail the water out of 

 the boat with calabashes, the sail was again set, and in 

 less than half an hour they were in a state to proceed. 

 The wind now abated a little. Squalls alternating with 

 dead calms were common in that part of the Orinoco which 

 was bordered by mountains. They were very dangerous 

 for boats deeply laden, and without decks. The travellers 

 had escaped by a miracle. To the reproaches that were 

 heaped on their pilot for having kept too near the wind, 

 he replied with the phlegmatic coolness peculiar to the 

 Indians, observing " that the whites would find sun 

 enough on those banks to dry their papers." They lost 

 only one book, the first volume of the " Genera Plan- 

 tarum" of Schreber, which had fallen overboard. At 



