IN HUMBOLDT'S COUNTRY 393 
in the forest, especially socos (herons) and curu- 
curiis. . . . 
Dec. 7. — About 4 p.m. we came up to a place 
where several blocks stood out of the river, some 
with trees on ; and on the left bank, a short distance 
within the forest, rose a black rock to a little above 
the tree tops ; it is called Cerro de Canumata. 
There are high banks, and terra firme again. 
Dec. 8. — This morning before sunrise the whole 
air between the forest on each side of the river was 
filled, as with snow-flakes, by a white-winged insect 
allied to the mayfly. As the sun rose the mass 
gradually descended till it reached to within three 
or four yards of the river, numbers of insects falling 
exhausted into the water until by 9 o'clock not one 
was to be seen. We rounded an inundated point 
this morning which recalled some parts of the 
Amazon. The surface was clad with a low Inga, 
over which trailed Convolvulae and other twiners so 
as to form an impervious mass, and out of it stood 
several slender Cecropias, 15 to 30 feet high, 
with smallish, not deeply-lobed leaves. For the 
last two days my men have taken two lablab (fish) 
each day — one being eaten by us fresh, and the 
other salted. 
Dec. 9. — Humboldt says the Casiquiari, as far as 
to the mouth of the Vasiva, is from 250 to 280 toises 
wide (i.e. 530 to 600 yards), and therefore as wide 
as the Rio Negro at San Carlos. . . . We reached 
the entrance of the Lago de Vasiva at 2 p.m. The 
mouth is perhaps 150 yards wide, in direction con- 
tinuous with Casiquiari. Some way in it narrows 
to 50, or even 30, yards. The forest is low, 
quite like that of the Guainia. Two hours of 
