LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



35 



the crew. It measured eight feet in length. As soon as I had got a 

 change of clothes, I killed it, and made a dissection of the head. 

 I would sometimes go ashore in the swamps to shoot maroudies, 

 which are somewhat related to the pheasant ; but they were very 

 shy, and it required considerable address to get within shot of them. 

 In these little excursions I now and then smarted for my pains. 

 More than once I got among some hungry leeches, which made 

 pretty free with my legs. The morning after I had had the adven- 

 ture with the labarri snake, a cayman slowly passed our vessel. All 

 on board agreed that this tyrant of the fresh waters could not be less 

 than thirty feet long. 



" On arriving at Angustura, the capital of the Orinoco, we were 

 received with great politeness by the Governor. Nothing could 

 surpass the hospitality of the principal inhabitants. They never 

 seemed satisfied unless we were partaking of the dainties which 

 their houses afforded. Indeed, we had feasting, dancing, and 

 music in superabundance. The Governor, Don Felipe de Ynciarte, 

 was tall and corpulent. On our first introduction, he told me that 

 he expected the pleasure of our company to dinner every day 

 during our stay in Angustura. We had certainly every reason to 

 entertain very high notions of the plentiful supply of good things 

 which the Orinoco afforded ; for at the first day's dinner, we counted 

 no less than forty dishes of fish and flesh. The Governor was 

 superbly attired in full uniform of gold and blue, the weight of 

 which alone, in that hot climate, and at such a repast, was enough 

 to have melted him down. He had not half got through his soup, 

 before he began visibly to liquefy. I looked at him, and bethought 

 me of the old saying, * How I sweat ! said the mutton chop to the 

 gridiron.' He now became exceedingly uneasy; and I myseh 

 had cause for alarm ; but our sensations arose from very different 

 causes. He, no doubt, already felt that the tightness of his uniform, 

 and the weight of the ornaments upon it, would never allow him 

 to get through that day's dinner with any degree of comfort to 

 himself. I, on the other hand (who would have been amply satisfied 

 with one dish well done), was horrified at the appalling sight of so 

 many meats before me. Good-breeding whispered to me, and said, 

 ' Try a little of most of them.' Temperance replied, ' Do so at 



