501 



Our boat became much slower. We continued 

 to ascend the Oroonoko under sail, but the high 

 and woody grounds deprived us of the wind. 

 At other times the narrow passes between the 

 mountains, by which we sailed, sent us violent 

 gusts, but of short duration. The number of 

 crocodiles augmented below the confluence of 

 the Rio Arauca, particularly opposite the great 

 lake of Capanaparo, which communicates with 

 the Oroonoko, as the Laguna de Cabullarito 

 communicates at the same time with the Oroo- 

 noko and the Rio Arauca. The Indians told us, 

 that the crocodiles came from the inlands, where 

 they had been buried in the dried mud of the 

 savannahs* As soon as the first showers awaken 

 them from their lethargy, they crowd together 

 in troops, and hasten toward the river, there to 

 disperse again. Here, in the equinoctial zone, 

 it is the increase of humidity that recalls them 

 to life ; while in Georgia and Florida, in the 

 temperate zone, it is the augmentation of heat, 

 that rouses these animals from a state of nervous 

 and muscular debility, during which the active 

 powers of respiration are suspended, or singularly 

 diminished. The season of great drought, im- 

 perly called the summer of the torrid zone, 

 corresponds to the winter of the temperate zone; 

 and it is a curious physiological phenomenon, to 

 observe the alligators of North America plunged 

 into a winter sleep by excess of cold, at the same 



