SECOND RIFLE BATTALION. 



471 



of the impossibility : how could this be 

 effected without guides ? how could they 

 traverse those immense plains ? and how ex- 

 plain themselves? how exist? — they were 

 sure to perish in the midst of plenty, for al- 

 though surrounded by wild cattle, they were 

 totally ignorant of the method of catching 

 them. 



Morilio having crossed the rivers Apur6 

 and Arauca, at the head of four thousand 

 infantry and nearly two thousand cavalry, 

 with artillery, in search of the patriots, 

 whose force did not exceed two thousand 

 infantry and two thousand cavalry, with 

 four pieces of artillery, the campaign open- 

 ed ; but Morilio shewed a great timidity as 

 to meeting his opponents in the larger plains, 

 where their cavalry (on which they chiefly 

 depended) could act to the greatest advan- 

 tage. And the patriots, on the other hand, 

 fearing the overwhelming number and su- 

 perior discipline of the enemy's infantry, 



