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2964 RIO NEGRO A TRIBUTARY 
opposite side. We had suffered severely from the 
stings of insects, but we had withstood the insalu- 
brity of the climate ; we had passed without acci- 
dent the numerous falls and. bars that impede the 
navigation of the rivers, and often render it more 
dangerous than long voyages by sea. 
“ After all that we had endured, I may be allowed 
to mention the satisfaction which we felt in having 
reached the tributaries of the Amazon,—in having 
passed the isthmus which separates two great sys- 
tems of rivers,—and in having attained a certainty 
of fulfilling the most important object of our jour- 
ney,—that of determining by astronomical observa- 
tions the course of that arm of the Orinoco which 
joins the Rio Negro, and whose existence had been 
alternately proved and denied for halfacentury. In 
these inland regions of the New Continent we almost 
accustom ourselves to consider man as inessential to 
the order of nature. The earth is overloaded with 
plants, of which nothing impedes the development. 
An immense layer of mould evinces the uninter- 
rupted action of the organic powers. The crocodiles 
and boas are masters of the river; the jaguar, pe- 
cari, dante, and monkeys of numerous species, tra- 
verse the forest without fear and without danger, 
residing there as in an ancient heritage. On the 
ocean and on the sands of Africa, we with difficulty 
reconcile ourselves to the disappearance of man ; 
but here his absence, in a fertile country clothed 
with perpetual verdure, produces a strange and 
melancholy feeling.” 
_ The Rio Negro, which flows pare into the 
Amazon, was for ages considered of great political 
importance by the Spanish government, as it would 
ac 
