C ITER A. 



441 



(lands having no proprietors), and learned that 

 nearly all, from this place to the mouths of the 

 Atrato, were baldias ; but until you arrive 

 within three days' journey of the entrance, 

 there is no ground that could be cultivated ; 

 for, on landing on either bank, and walking 

 fifty yards, you arrive at an impenetrable mo- 

 rass. About the river Sucio, which runs into 

 the Atrato, three days' journey from the en- 

 trance, it is habitable, and there is a consider- 

 able quantity of fine land ; but there the cli- 

 mate is from 82** to 86**, which will not suit 

 European constitutions. I therefore wrote to 

 my friend Mr. Jones, advising him to endeavour 

 to get the government to change the grant 

 made to his house, and fix in a more temperate 

 spot. 



I at last received information of a champana 

 being in the river, and expected here on the 6th 

 instant — so that I had hopes of escaping from 

 this miserable place. Great would be the suf- 

 ferings of this town, should a long drought take 

 place ; for the sun causing a rapid evapora- 

 tion, would likewise rot the decayed vege- 

 table substance, which would fill the air with 

 effluvia so infectious, that many would die. 



