IN HUMBOLDT'S COUNTRY 435 
concluded, and explains some matters not touched 
upon in the Journal. It is also a good example of 
Spruce's style of writing and serves to illustrate 
his general interest in scientific inquiry ; and though 
it may contain some repetition of facts in the 
Journal, I do not think any readers of his travels 
will consider it out of place.] 
To Sir William Hooker 
San Carlos del Rio Negro, Venezuela, 
March 19, 1854. 
... I calculated on spending a month in the 
voyage up the Casiquiari, but after passing the 
mouth of Lake Vasiva mosquitoes began to be so 
abundant that my Indians became very impatient 
of stoppages. So long as we continued in motion, 
comparatively few mosquitoes congregated in the 
piragoa, but when we stopped to cook or gather 
flowers they were almost insupportable, and the 
cabin especially became like a beehive. You will 
easily understand that, however much my enthusi- 
asm as a naturalist might conduce to render me 
insensible to suffering and annoyance, I could not 
help occasionally participating in the feelings of my 
sailors, and was not sorry to get along as quickly 
as possible. The weather was unusually fine and 
dry for this region; hence the abundance of mos- 
quitoes. The same circumstance was favourable 
for preserving specimens, but the trees of the river- 
side had mostly shed their flowers and had fruit 
too young to be worth gathering. Still I found 
enough to keep me occupied. In the afternoon of 
December 21, 1853, we got out of the upper mouth 
