270 SCENERY OF THE CASIQUIARE. 
but discovering that his anthropophagous propensi- 
ties remained they gave up the idea. He told them 
that “his relations (the people of his tribe) preferred 
the inside of the hands in man, as in bears,” accom- 
panying the assertion with gestures of savage joy. 
Although the Indians of the Casiquiare readily 
return to their barbarous habits, they manifest, 
while in the missions, intelligence, industry, and a 
great facility in learning the Spanish tongue. As 
the villages are usually inhabited by three or four 
tribes who do not understand each other, the lan- 
guage of their instructor affords a general means of 
communication. The soil on the Casiquiare is of 
excellent quality. Rice, beans, cotton, sugar, and 
indigo, thrive wherever they have been tried ; but 
the humidity of the air, and the swarms of insects, 
oppose almost insuperable obstacles to cultivation. 
Immense bands of white ants destroy every thing 
that comes in their way, insomuch, that when a mis- 
sionary would cultivate salad or any European cu- 
linary vegetable, he fills an old boat with soil, and 
having sown the seeds suspends it with cords, or ele-. 
vates it on posts. 
From the 14th to the 21st the travellers continued 
to ascend the Casiquiare, which flowed with consi- 
derable rapidity, having a breadth of 426 yards, 
and bordered by two enormous walls of trees hung 
with lianas. No openings could be discovered in 
these fences ; and at night the Indians had to cut a 
small spot with their hatchets to make room enough 
for their beds, it being impossible to remain in the 
canoe on account of the mosquitoes and heavy rains. 
Great difficulty was experienced in finding wood to 
make a fire, the branches being so full of sap that 
