186 



NOCTURNAL HOWLINGS. 



sixteen huts constructed of palm-leaves, and inhab- 

 ited by a tribe of the Guamoes. These Christians 

 were unable to furnish them with the provisions 

 which they wanted, but hospitably offered them dried 

 fish and water. The night was spent on a bare and 

 very extensive beach. The forest being impenetra- 

 ble, they had great difficulty in obtaining dry wood 

 to light fires for the purpose of keeping off the wild 

 beasts. But the night was calm, with beautiful 

 moonlight. Finding no tree on the banks, they stuck 

 their oars in the sand, and suspended their hammocks 

 upon them. About eleven there arose in the wood 

 so terrific a noise that it was impossible to sleep. 

 The Indians distinguished the cries of sapajous, alou- 

 ates, jaguars, cougars, pecaris, sloths, carassows, 

 panakas, and other gallinaceous birds. When the 

 tigers approached the edge of the forest, a dog which 

 the travellers had began to howl and seek refuge 

 under their cots. Sometimes, after a long silence, 

 the cry of the ferocious animal came from the tops 

 of the trees, when it was followed by the sharp 

 and long whistling of the monkeys. Humboldt sup- 

 poses the noise thus made by the inhabitants of 

 the thicket, at certain hours of the night, to be 

 the effect of some contest that has arisen among 

 them. 



On the 2d April they set sail before sunrise. The 

 river was ploughed by porpoises, and the shore 

 crowded with aquatic birds ; while some of the latter, 

 perched on the floating timber, were endeavouring 

 to surprise the fish that preferred the middle of the 

 stream. The navigation is rather dangerous, on ac- 

 count of the large trees which remain obliquely fixed 

 in the mud, and the canoe touched several times. 

 Near the island of Carizales, they saw enormous 

 trunks covered with plotuses or darters, and below 

 it observed a diminution of the waters of the river, 

 owing to infiltration and evaporation. Near the 

 Vuelta de Basilio, where they landed to gather 



