380 



her resolution of going to one of the Indian 

 missions, that surround the city of Calabozo. 

 ,We took the sand out of her pitcher, and filled 

 it with water. She resumed her way along the 

 steppe, before we had remounted our horses, 

 and was soon separated from us by a cloud of 

 dust. During the night we forded the Rio 

 Uritucu *j which is filled with a breed of croco- 

 diles remarkable for their ferocity. We were 

 advised, to prevent our dogs from going to drink 

 in the rivers ; for it often happens, that the cro- 

 codiles of Uritucu come out of the water, and 

 pursue dogs upon the shore. This intrepidity is 

 so much the more striking, as at eight leagues 

 distance the crocodiles of the Rio Tisnao are 

 timid enough, and little dangerous. The man- 

 ners of animals vary in the same species accord- 

 ing to local circumstances difficult to investi- 

 gate. We were shown a hut, or rather a kind of 

 shed, in which our host of Calabozo, Don Mi- 

 guel Cousin, had witnessed a very extraordinary 

 scene. Sleeping with one of his friends on a 

 bench covered with leather, Don Miguel was 

 awakened early in the morning by violent shakes, 

 and a horrible noise. Clods of earth were 

 thrown into the middle of the hut. Presently 

 a young crocodile two or three feet long issued 

 from under the bed, darted at a dog that lay on 



* Passo de Uritucu. 



