584 



of these proscribed men in a report made to the 

 government on the state of industry and com- 

 merce in those countries. My efforts were fruit- 

 less ; the government at the period of my 

 voyage was indeed moderate, and generally in- 

 clined to mild measures ; but they, who are 

 acquainted with the complicated machinery of 

 the ancient Spanish monarchy, know how little 

 the spirit of the ministry concerned itself in the 

 well-being of the inhabitants of the Oroonoko, 

 New California, and the Philippine Islands. 



When travellers attend only to the sensations 

 they feel, they dispute with each other on the 

 abundance of the moschettoes, as on the pro- 

 gressive increase or diminution of the tempera- 

 ture. The state of our organs, the motion of 

 the air, it's degree of humidity or dryness, it's 

 electric intensity, a thousand circumstances 

 contribute at once, to make us suffer more or 

 less from the heat and the insects. My fellow 

 travellers thought unanimously, that Esmeralda 

 was more tormented by moschettoes than the 

 banks of the Cassiquiare, and even than the two 

 missions of the Great Cataracts : as I was less 

 sensible than they of the high temperature of the 

 air, it appeared to me, that the irritation pro- 

 duced by the insects was somewhat less at Es- 

 meralda, than at the entrance of the Upper 

 Oroonoko. We made use of cooling lotions ; 

 the juice of limes, and still more that of the 



