THIRD JOURNEY. 183 



arrived one by one, and from different parts of the 

 heavens. Hence we may conclude, that though the 

 other species of vulture are gregarious, the aura vulture 

 is not. 



If you dissect a vulture that has just been feeding 

 on carrion, you must expect that your olfactory nerves 

 will be somewhat offended with the rank effluvia from 

 his craw ; just as they would be were you to dissect a 

 citizen after the Lord Mayor's dinner. If, on the con- 

 trary, the vulture be empty at the time you commence 

 the operation, there will be no offensive smell, but a 

 strong scent of musk. 



I had long wished to examine the native haunts of 

 the cayman ; but as the river Demerara did not afford 

 a specimen of the large kind, I was obliged to go to 

 the river Essequibo to look for one. 



I got the canoe ready, and went down 



Sails in a ca- 

 noe down to in it to George-town: where, having put in 



the Essequibo. . r 



the necessary articles for the expedition, not 

 forgetting a couple of large shark-hooks, with chains 

 attached to them, and a coil of strong new rope, I 

 hoisted a little sail, which I had got made on purpose, 

 and at six o'clock in the morning shaped our course for 

 the river Essequibo. I had put a pair of shoes on to 

 prevent the tar at the bottom of the canoe from sticking 

 to my feet. The sun was flaming hot, and from eleven 

 o'clock till two beat perpendicularly upon the top of 

 my feet, betwixt the shoes and the trowsers. Not feel- 

 ing it disagreeable, or being in the least aware of painful 

 consequences, as I had been barefoot for months, I neg- 

 lected to put on a pair of short stockings which I had 

 with me. I did not reflect, that sitting still in one 

 place with your feet exposed to the sun was very 



