IN HUMBOLDT'S COUNTRY 403 
a thundering noise which alarms the sleepers in 
their hammocks. 
[I here insert Spruce's very vivid description 
of Esmeralda, both from a picturesque and residen- 
tial point of view, as given in a letter to his friend 
Mr. John Teasdale.] 
To Mr. John Teasdale 
San Carlos, May 22, 1854. 
On the Orinoco I visited Esmeralda at the foot 
of the lofty mountain Duida — about 8000 feet high 
— you will find mention of it in Humboldt's 
Narrative and Aspects of Nature. This village, 
reduced now to six miserable huts, stands on 
the most magnificent site I have seen in South 
America. Between the Cerro Duida on the west 
and the mountains of the Guapo and Padamo on 
the east extend wide grassy savannas in which 
almost the only trees are scattered, fan -palms 
(Moriches). On the side next the Orinoco a semi- 
circular ridge of fantastically-piled granite blocks, 
in whose crevices grow a few scattered shrubs, cut 
off a small savanna on which stands Esmeralda. 
All up and down the Orinoco, and on the margins 
of the savanna, rise hills of granite and schist, some 
nearly naked, others forest-clad, and at the back 
(to the N.W.) rises the abrupt and frowning mass 
of Duida. If you can fancy all this seen by a 
setting sun — the deep ravines that furrow Duida 
on the east buried in nocturnal gloom, while the 
salient edges glitter like silver (the rock is chiefly 
micaceous schist) — you will realise in some degree a 
scene which has few equals. Looking up the 
