A TRIP TO TRINIDAD. 



363 



also found further south (but I have never found 

 with them any of the species of alligators that 

 abound on the coast of Guiana), in the Never!, 

 Magdalena, Apure, and the Orinoco, to the conflu- 

 ence of the Casiquiaro with the Rio Negro (lat. 

 2° 2'), which is more than four hundred leagues 

 from Batabano. It would be important to deter- 

 mine the limits of the several species of carnivorous 

 saurians, on the eastern shore of Guatemala and 

 Mexico, between the Mississippi river and Chagres. 



Before sunrise, on the ninth of March, we were 

 under way, somewhat intimidated by the extremely 

 small size of our schooner, on board of which we 

 could lie down only upon deck. The well-like cabin 

 received air and light from above, and barely 

 afforded room for our instruments; in it the ther- 

 mometer stood constantly at 32° or 33° c. (90° or 

 92° F.). Fortunately, these inconveniences lasted 

 only twenty days, and the navigation of the 

 Orinoco in canoes, and a passage at sea on board of 

 an American vessel laden with beef which had 

 been dried in the sun, had taught us not to be too 

 delicate. 



The Gulf of Batabano, surrounded by low and 

 marshy coasts, seems like a vast desert. The fisher 

 birds, which generally are found at their posts before 

 the land birds, and the lazy zamurros are awake, 



