90 



Travels and Adventures 



a large bottle of native spirit, called aguardiente — a 

 liquor made from the sugar-cane, of a disgusting taste 

 and unbounded strength, which one would say, in 

 ordinary phraseology, is warranted to kill at a thousand 

 yards. Indeed, the native boatmen are so accustomed 



CANOE AND BOATMEN OF THE RIVER LEBRIJA. 



to the use of this drug that the alcohol eventually 

 loses its effect upon them. An amusing instance 

 happened on the journey up the river. I had taken a 

 bottle of alcohol with me to use in a spirit-lamp, with 

 the object of boiling water to make tea on the journey, 

 but by some mistake a pint bottle of alcohol was given 

 to the native boatmen instead of the aguardiente. 



