226 



large and well fed ; they are said, however, to 

 be less daring than the jaguars of the Oroonoko. 



April 27th. The night was beautiful, dark 

 clouds passed from time to time over the zenith 

 with extreme rapidity. Not a breath of wind 

 was felt in the lower strata of the atmosphere ; 

 the breeze existed only at the height of a thou- 

 sand toises. I dwell upon this peculiarity ; for 

 the movement we saw was not produced by the 

 counter-currents (from west to east), which are 

 sometimes thought to be observed in the torrid 

 zone on the loftiest mountains of the Cordilleras; 

 it was the effect of a real breeze, of an east wind. 

 I had some good observations of the meridian 

 altitude of a in the Southern Cross ; the partial 

 results oscillated only eight or ten seconds 

 round the mean*. The latitude of Guapasoso 

 is 3° 53' 55". The black water of the river 

 served me for an horizon, and I felt so much 

 the more pleasure in making these observations, 

 as in the white rivers, the Apure and the Oroo- 

 noko, we had been cruelly stung by insects, 

 Mr. Bonpland in marking the time by the chro- 

 nometer, and I in levelling the horizon. We 

 left the conucos of Guapasoso at two o'clock ; 

 continued to ascend the river toward the south, 

 and found it, or rather that part of it's bed 

 which is free from trees, narrowing more and 



* Obs. Astr. vol. 1, p. 233. 



