COMMENCEMENT OF THE UAINY SEASON. IJS 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Voyage down the Rio Apure. 



San Fernando — Commencement of the Rainy Season — Progress of 

 Atmospherical Phenomena — Cetaceous Animals — Vo3-a<^e down 

 the Rio Apure — Vegetation and Wild Animals — Crocodiles, 

 Chiguires, and Jaguars — Don Ignacio and Donna Isabella — Wa- 

 ter-fowl — Nocturnal Howlings in the Forest — Caribe-fish — Ad- 

 venture with a Jaguar — Manatees — Mouth of the Rio Apure. 



The town of San Fernando, which was founded only in chap. XVX 

 1789, is advantageously situated on a large navigable xowiToTsan 

 river, the Apure, a tributary of the Orinoco, near the Fernando. 

 mouth of another stream which traverses the whole 

 province of Varinas, all the productions of which pass 

 through it on their way to the coast. It is during the 

 rainy season, when the rivers overflow their banks and 

 inundate a vast extent of country, that commerce is 

 most active. At this period the savannahs are covered 

 with water to the depth of twelve or fourteen feet, and j;:iiiiy 

 present the appearance of a great lake, in the midst of '*'^*'^""' 

 which the farm-houses and villages are seen rising on 

 islands scarcely elevated above the surface. Horses, 

 mules, and cows, perish in great numbers, and afford 

 abundant food to the zamuros or carrion-vultures, as 

 well as to the alligators. The inhabitants, to avoid the 

 force of the currents, and the danger arising from the 

 trees carried down by them, instead of ascending the 

 course of the rivers, find it safer to cross the fiats in 

 their boats. 



