86 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



higher than our heads, and because of the horde of mosqui- 

 toes which found their way in while tlie beds were being 

 moved, the rest of that night would be sleepless. 



With the dawn came the roar of the howling monkeys; 

 a dainty Tigaiia'* picked its way among the mud-flats; a flock 

 of Hervidores"" — which being translated means "boilers," 

 an appellation perhaps suggested by the notes of these black 

 . Cuckoos — bubbled away as cheerily as a bright kettle on a 

 breakfast table. And with these sounds of the dawn all our 

 troubles of the night were forgotten. 



After weeks of solitude in the mangrove jungles our prow 

 was headed inland and a long night of silent drifting with 

 the tide brought us to the mouth of the Guanoco River. Here 

 the Captain and the unruly crew at dawn had their usual 

 heated argument as to the management of the boat, with the 

 result that they nearly ran her aground — one of the many 

 narrow escapes which had happened so often as to create 

 but little interest on our part. 



Guanoco was a river of bends, around each one of which 

 the Captain assured us we would see the viUage. But it was 

 twilight before we turned the final bend and saw picturesque 

 Guanoco at the hour of vesperlino — a hill rising steep and 

 blue, with the silvery river at its foot and a cluster of little 

 thatched huts perched one above another on the hillside. 



It was delightful to feel solid ground under one's feet 

 again and we could hardly get over our accustomed walk of 

 "three steps and over-board." 



Here in our wilderness we found an unexpected home. 

 Through the kindness of our cordial friends in Trinidad — 

 Mr. Eugene Andre and Mr. Ellis Grell — we had letters to 

 the men in charge of the pitch lake at Guanoco and it was to 

 this great lake that the tiny settlement of Guanoco owed its 

 being. 



As soon as we reached the wharf, a young Venezuelan 



