436 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
of the Casiquiari. I could not look for the first 
time on the Orinoco without emotion, and I 
thought of the illustrious voyagers who more than 
fifty years previously had explored its course, and 
the vegetable products of its shores ; not without 
hope of being able to collect again some of the 
latter in the places where they were first dis- 
covered. My original intention (as you already 
know) was to explore the river Cunucunuma, which 
flows along the western side of the mountains 
Marayuaca and Duida, and enters the Orinoco a 
little below the mouth of the Casiquiari ; but first 
I had resolved to have a peep at Esmeralda. We 
started, therefore, up the Orinoco, and in the morn- 
ing of the 24th reached Esmeralda, having experi- 
enced no small difficulty in finding a way for the 
piragoa, for the Orinoco was falling fast, and in 
certain places where it spreads out to a great width 
we could hardly anywhere find 3 feet of water, all 
that was necessary to float my little vessel. As 
my provisions were falling short, I had to devote 
some time to hunting up the Indians of Esmeralda, 
and setting them to work to bake cassave. With 
this exception every moment of daylight during 
my short stay was given to collecting the plants 
of the surrounding cerros and savannahs. I sup- 
pose I mentioned to you that the Comisario 
General of the Canton del Rio Negro (residing 
in San Fernando de Atabapo) had invited me to 
accompany him on an exploratory expedition to- 
wards the sources of the Orinoco, and appointed 
to meet me for that purpose in Esmeralda on 
Christmas Day. As above stated, I arrived at 
the rendezvous a day earlier than agreed on, but 
