1 82 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [March, 



at any moment have had my choice of half a dozen ; and I was 

 forced to be my own cook and housemaid for the rest of my 

 stay in Javita. 



There was now in the village an old Indian trader who had 

 come from Medina, a town at the foot of the Andes, near 

 Bogota, and from him and some other Indians I obtained 

 much information relative to that part of the country, and the 

 character of the streams that flow from the mountains down to 

 the Orinooko. He informed me that he had ascended by the 

 river Muco, which enters the Orinooko above the Falls of 

 Maypures, and by which he had reached a point within twenty 

 miles of the upper waters of the Meta, opposite Medina. The 

 river Muco had no falls or obstructions to navigation, and all 

 the upper part of its course flowed through an open country, 

 and had fine sandy beaches; so that between this river and 

 the Guaviare is the termination of the great forest of the 

 Amazon valley. 



The weather was now terribly wet. For successive days 

 and nights rain was incessant, and a few hours of sunshine was 

 a rarity. Insects were few, and those I procured it was almost 

 impossible to dry. In the drying box they got destroyed by 

 mould, and if placed in the open air and exposed to the sun 

 minute flies laid eggs upon them, and they were soon eaten up 

 by maggots. The only way I could preserve them was to 

 hang them up some time every evening and morning over my 

 fire. I now began to regret more than ever my loss of the 

 fine season, as I was convinced that I could have reaped a 

 splendid harvest. I had, too, just began to initiate the Indian 

 boys into catching beetles for me, and was accumulating a very 

 nice collection. Every evening three or four would come in 

 with their treasures in pieces of bamboo, or carefully tied up 

 in leaves. I purchased all they brought, giving a fish-hook 

 each; and among many common I generally found some 

 curious and rare species. CokoJ>tera, generally so scarce in 

 the forest districts of the Amazon and Rio Negro, seemed 

 here to become more abundant, owing perhaps to our approach 

 to the margins of the great forest, and the plains of the 

 Orinooko. 



I prepared to leave Javita with much regret. Although, 

 considering the season, I had done well, I knew that had I 

 been earlier I might have done much better. In April I had 



