415 



San Fernando. The good capuchin * father gave 

 us sherry wine, oranges, and tamarinds, to make 

 cooling beverages. We could foresee, that ai 

 roof constructed of palm-tree leaves would be- 

 come excessively heated in the bed of a large 

 river, where we were almost always exposed to 

 the perpendicular rays of the Sun. The Indians 

 relied less on the provision we had purchased, 

 than on their hooks and nets. We took also 

 some fire-arms, which we found in pretty general 

 use as far as the cataracts ; but farther South 

 the immense humidity of the air prevents the 

 missionaries from using musquets. The Rio 

 Apure abounds in fish, manatees, and turtles, 

 the eggs of which afford an aliment more nutri- 

 tious than agreeable to the taste. It's banks are 

 peopled by an innumerable quantity of birds, 

 among which the pauxi and the guackaraca, 

 which may be called the turkeys and pheasants 

 of those countries, are found the most useful. 

 Their flesh appeared to be harder and less white 

 than that of our gallinaceous tribe in Europe, 

 because they use much more muscular exercise-f . 

 We did not forget to add to our provision, fish- 



* Fray Jose Maria de Malaga. 



t The muscular contraction (the discharge from the nerve 

 into the muscle) is attended with a chemical change in the 

 elements. There is an absorption of oxygen from the arterial 

 blood, and, during this absorption, the muscular fibre blackens 

 and becomes carbonized. 



