8o Travels and Adventures 



CHAPTER VII. 



CANOE LIFE ON THE LEBRIJA WATER-FOWL — lESTACION 



SANTANDER ALLIGATOR-HUNTING — WE START UP 



THE RIVER FISHING MAKING PALM WINE A 



PECCARY HUNT FINDING TURTLES' EGGS MID- 

 NIGHT ON THE RIVER-BANK. 



The river Lebrija is the finest river draining the state 

 of Santander, a tributary of the Magdalena, rising in 

 what is called La Mesa de Juan Rodrigues, in the 

 Eastern Andes, at a height of about nine thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea, passing the town of 

 Pie de Cuesta on the north-east side, and running 

 through the old Spanish town of J iron, following 

 the department of Soto in the state of Santander, 

 and emptying itself into the Magdalena at a place 

 called • Bodega Central, a small boat-station of com- 

 paratively recent construction. Perhaps there is no 

 better means of getting a good experience of what 

 canoe life really is than by taking a journey on this 

 river. Going up, there are the long, weary days 

 with a burning sun and cramped privation, dragging 



