182 SMELLING THEIR OLD RELATIONS. 



between Angostura and Nueva Barcelona, the natives 

 assembled round their mules to admire the monkeys 

 which they had purchased at the Orinoco. These good 

 people had scarcely touched their baggage, when. they 

 announced the approaching death of the beast of burden 

 that carried the dead. In vain the travellers told them 

 they were deceived in their conjectures ; and that the 

 baskets contained the bones of crocodiles and manatis ; 

 they persisted in repeating that they smelt the resin that 

 surrounded the skeletons, and " that they were their old 

 relations." The travellers were obliged to request that 

 the monks would interpose their authority, to overcome 

 the aversion of the natives, and procure for them a change 

 of mules. 



They withdrew in silence from the cavern of Ataruipe. 

 It was one of those calm and serene nights which are so 

 common in the torrid zone. The stars shone with a mild 

 and planetary light. Their scintillation was scarcely 

 sensible at the horizon, which seemed illumined by the 

 great nebulas of the southern hemisphere. An innumer- 

 able multitude of insects spread a reddish light upon the 

 ground, loaded with plants, and resplendent with these 

 living and moving fires, as if the stars of the firmament 

 had sunk down on the savannah. On quitting the ca- 

 vern the travellers stopped to admire the beauty of 

 this singular scene. The odoriferous vanilla and fes- 

 toons of bignonia decorated the entrance ; and above, on 

 the summit of the hill, the arrowy branches of the palm- 

 trees waved murmuring in the air. They descended 

 towards the river, to take the road to the mission, where 

 they arrived late in the night. 



They stayed at the mission of Atures only during the 



