IN THE PRIMEVAL FOREST. 269 



steersman, an old Indian who had been brought up in the 

 house of an ecclesiastic. The peace of the golden age was, 

 however, far from prevailing among the animals of this 

 American paradise, which carefully watched and avoided 

 each other. The Capybara, a Cavy three or four feet long, 

 (a magnified repetition of the Brazilian Cavy, Cavia aguti), is 

 devoured in the river by the crocodiles, and on shore by the 

 tiger. It runs so indifferently that we were several times 

 able to catch individuals from among the numerous herds 

 which presented themselves. 



Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna we 

 passed the night as usual, under the open sky, on a sandy 

 flat on the bank of the Rio Apure closely bordered by the 

 impenetrable forest. It was not without difficulty that we 

 succeeded in finding dry wood to kindle the fire with which 

 it is always customary in that country to surround a, bivouac, 

 in order to guard against the attacks of the jaguar. The 

 night was humid, mild, and moonlight. Several crocodiles 

 approached the shore ; I think I have observed these animals 

 to be attracted by fire, like our cray-fish and many other 

 inhabitants of the water. The oars of our boat were placed 

 upright and carefully driven into the ground, to form poles 

 from which our hammocks could be suspended. Deep 

 stillness prevailed ; only from time to time we heard the 

 blowing of the fresh-water dolphins ( 5 ) which are peculiar to 

 the Orinoco net- work of rivers (and, according to Colebrooke, 

 to the Ganges as far as Benares), which followed each other 

 in long lines. 



Soon after 11 o'clock such a disturbance began to be 



