126 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



negroes and the natives come from all sides, pro- 

 vided with large vessels to collect the milk, which 

 turns yellow and thickens on the surface." 



In February, 1800, the travellers traced the 

 water system of the Orinoco, often in the midst 

 of danger. Once, in a severe storm, their boat was 

 two-thirds full of water. " Our position," says 

 Humboldt, " was truly appalling ; the shore was 

 distant from us more than a mile, where a number 

 of crocodiles could be discerned lying half out of 

 the water. Even if we had gained the shore 

 against the fury of the waves and the voracity of 

 the crocodiles, we should infallibly have either per- 

 ished from hunger or been torn in pieces by the 

 tigers, for the woods upon these shores are so 

 dense and so intertwined with lianas as to be abso- 

 lutely impenetrable. The strongest man, axe in 

 hand, could hardly make his way in twenty days 

 for the distance of a league. The river too is so 

 little frequented that even an Indian canoe scarcely 

 passes oftener than once in two months. At this 

 most momentous and perilous crisis a gust of wind 

 filled the sails of our little vessel and effected in a 

 marvellous manner our deliverance." 



To his botanist friend, Willdenow, he writes : 

 "During four months of this journey we passed 

 the night in forests, surrounded by crocodiles, boa 

 constrictors, and tigers, which are here bold enough 

 to attack a canoe, while for food we had nothing 

 better than rice, ants, bananas, and occasional^ 

 the flesh of monkeys, with only the waters of the 



