74 Travels and Adventures 



there was a lire in the place, and, on examining 

 further, we discovered three natives huddled up in the 

 driest part of the shed. These were travellers like 

 ourselves, on their way from Bucaramanga to the 

 River Magdalena. They had arrived before the 

 storm, having had time to collect wood and cook 

 their supper : of the little provisions which they pos- 

 sessed they sold us some cassava roots and a little 

 raw sugar. Quickly disencumbering ourselves of our 

 dripping remnants of clothing, we boiled some of the 

 raw su^ar in water — this makes an excellent and 

 refreshing drink when it is drunk warm. Being some- 

 what refreshed with this, we next prepared the cassava 

 roots and supped well on these, and my companions 

 heaping a large pile of wood on the fire, we waited for 

 daylight, making ourselves as comfortable as possible 

 under the circumstances, not unmindful to Providence 

 that we were better there than in the open forest 

 without shelter. 



Morning revealed to us the woods in all their 

 grandeur again, with scarce a trace of the hurricane 

 which had swept over us on the previous evening. 

 Our first consideration was to dry everything we 

 possessed by spreading it in the sun ; meanwhile our 

 companions, who were going in the opposite direc- 

 tion, had breakfasted and taken to the track. The 

 preparation of our baggage delayed us until nearly 



