321 



We did not then think, that we should afterward 

 be forced during whole months to have recourse 

 to this expedient. The waters of the Oroonoko 

 are alike loaded with earthy particles; they are 

 even fetid, where dead bodies of aligators are 

 found in the creeks lying* on banks of sand, or 

 half-buried in the mud. 



No sooner were our instruments unloaded, 

 and safely placed, than our mules were set at 

 liberty, to go, as they say here, " and search for 

 water in the savannah # ." There are little pools 

 round the farm, which the animals find, guided 

 by their instinct, by the view of some scattered 

 tufts of mauritia, and by the sensation of humid 

 coolness, caused by little currents of air amid 

 an atmosphere, which to us appears calm and 

 tranquil. When the pools of water are far 

 distant, and the people of the farm are too lazy 

 to lead the cattle to these natural watering- 

 places, they confine them during five or six 

 hours in a very hot stable, before they let them 

 loose. Excess of thirst then augments their 

 sagacity, sharpening as it were their senses and 

 their instinct. No sooner is the stable opened, 

 than you see the horses and mules, especially the 

 latter, the penetration of which exceeds the in- 

 telligence of the horses, rush into the savannahs. 

 Their tail raised, their head thrown back, they 



VOL. IV. 



* Para bus car agua. 

 Y 



