902 SAN FERNANDO DE APURE. 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Voyage down the Rio Apure. 
San Fernando—Commencement of the Rainy Season—Progress of 
Atmospherical Phenomena—Cetaceous Animals— Voyage 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. 
Tue town of San Fernando, which was founded 
only in 1739, is advantageously situated on a large 
navigable river, the Apure, a tributary of the 
Orinoco, near the 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 overfiow their banks and inundate a 
vast extent of country, that commerce is most ac- 
tive. At this period the savannahs are covered with 
water to the depth of twelve or fourteen feet, and 
present the appearance of a great lake, in the midst 
of which the farm-houses and villages are seen ris- 
ing 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 inhabit- 
ants, to avoid the force of the currents, and the 
danger arising from the trees carried down by them, 
