108 



It is difficult not to smile at hearing the mission- 

 aries dispute on the size and voracity of the 

 moschettoes at different parts of the same river. 

 In the centre of a country ignorant of all that is 

 passing in the rest of the world, this is the fa- 

 vourite subject of conversation. " How I pity 

 your situation !" said the missionary of the rau- 

 dales to the missionary of Cassiquiare, at our 

 departure ; " you are alone, like me, in this 

 country of tigers and monkeys ; with you fish 

 is still more rare, and the heat more violent ; 

 but as for my flies, (mia moscas) I can boast, 

 that with one of mine I would beat three of 

 yours." 



This voracity of insects in certain spots, the 

 rage with which they attack man*, the activity 

 of the venom varying in the same species, are 

 very remarkable facts ; which find their analogy 

 however in the classes of large animals. The 

 crocodile of Angostura pursues men, while at 

 Nueva-Barcelona, in the Rio Neveri, you may 

 bathe tranquilly in the midst of these carnivorous 

 reptiles. The jaguars of Maturin, Cumanacoa, 

 and the isthmus of Panama, are cowardly in 



* This voracity, this appetite for blood, seems surprising 

 in little insects, that live on vegetable juices, and in a country 

 almost entirely uninhabited. " What would these animals 

 eat, if we did not pass this way ?" say the Creoles, in going 

 through countries where there are only crocodiles covered 

 with a scaly skin, and hairy monkeys. 



