437 



rained long before sunrise; and the araguate 

 monkeys had warned us by their lengthened 

 howlings of the approach of the shower, long 

 before the noise of the cataract increased. 



May the 14th. The moschettoes, and still 

 more the ants, drove us from the shore before 

 two in the morning. We had till then believed, 

 that the latter did not crawl along the cords, 

 by which the hammocks are usually suspended ; 

 but whether this opinion were erroneous, or the 

 ants fell upon us from the tops of the trees, it 

 is certain, that we had great difficulty to keep 

 ourselves free from these troublesome insects. 

 The river became narrower as we advanced, and 

 it's banks were so marshy, that it was not with- 

 out much labour Mr. Bonpiand could get to a 

 carolinea princeps loaded with large purple 

 flowers. This tree is the most beautiful orna- 

 ment of these forests, and of those of the Rio 

 Negro. We examined repeatedly, during this 

 day, the temperature of the Cassiquiare. The 

 water at the surface of the river was only 24° 

 (when the air was at 25*6°) . This is nearly the 

 temperature of the Rio Negro, but four or five 

 degrees less than that of the Oroonoko*. After 

 having passed on the west the mouth of the 

 Canno Caterico, which has black waters of ex- 

 traordinary transparency, we left the bed of the 



* See vol. iv, p. 500 and 572 ; and p. 163 and 217 of the 

 present volume. 



