IN HUMBOLDT'S COUNTRY 439 
Balsa/ now several feet under water but left bare 
in the dry season, and my pilot, who had spent a 
summer in Vasiva catching turtle, told me that at 
that time the sand was covered by thousands of little 
annual plants. I determined, therefore, to explore 
Vasiva thoroughly, and I pictured to myself the 
numbers of new Burmannias, Utricularias, Ptycho- 
meriae, etc., I should gather on its shores. It was 
necessary to use all expedition, for when the Casi- 
quiari is at its lowest, only small boats can navigate 
the upper part. We re-entered it about noon on 
the 7th and commenced our downward course. It 
rained every day, and, instead of falling as we 
expected, the water rose again. On the 12th we 
reached an Indian settlement a little above the 
mouth of the Vasiva. . . . Hoping the rise of 
the waters might be only temporary, I waited in 
Yamadu-bani until they should again go down. 
On the Casiquiari and Alto Orinoco the driest 
months of the year are considered to be January, 
February, and March, and in the last-named month 
the rivers are expected to be lowest. This year, 
however, the turning-point was on the 8th January, 
and the swelling of the streams has gone on con- 
tinuously, with the exception of a very slight sub- 
sidence in the middle of February, until the present 
time, when they are as full as usually at the end 
of June. Hence every one says there has been 
no vasante this year, and the consequences are 
disastrous. No turtle oil could be collected on the 
^ Spruce says that this is a species of Amyridace?e, an order of highly resinous 
trees and shrubs, some of which produce the myrrh and frankincense of the 
East, while many South American species produce gums, oils, and balsams, 
especially those of the genera Icica and Hedwigia. Spruce was not able to 
obtain flowers of the species here referred to. — Ed, 
