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plain of a philosophy, which, indulgent to indo- 

 lence, renders a man indifferent to the conve- 

 niences of life. A furious wind arose after 

 midnight, lightnings ploughed the horizon, the 

 thunder rolled, and we were wet to the skin. 

 During this storm a whimsical incident served 

 to amuse us for a moment. Donna Isabella's 

 cat had perched upon the tamarind-tree, at the 

 foot of which we lay. It fell into the hammock 

 of one of our companions, who, wounded by the 

 claws of the cat, and awakened from a profound 

 sleep, thought he was attacked by some wild 

 beast of the forest. We ran to him on hearing 

 his cries, and had some trouble to convince him 

 of his error. While it rained in torrents on our 

 hammocks, and the instruments we had landed, 

 don Ignacio congratulated us on our good for- 

 tune in not sleeping on the, strand, but finding 

 ourselves in his domain, among Whites and 

 persons of rank ; entre gente blanca y de trato. 

 Wet as we were, we could not easily persuade 

 ourselves of the advantages of our situation, and 

 listened with some impatience to the long nar- 

 rative our host gave us of his pretended expedi- 

 tion to Rio Meta, of the valour he had displayed 

 in a bloody combat with the Guahibo Indians, 

 and " the services that he had rendered to God 

 and his king, in carrying away children (los 

 Indiecitos) from their parents, to distribute them 

 in the missions." How singular a spectacle, to 



