IN HUMBOLDT'S COUNTRY 443 
is perhaps more interesting to the geographer than 
to the botanist ; nor does it console me to reflect 
that one person cannot do everything, that the pre- 
serving of plants in this climate involves great 
mechanical labour, and that the daily cares and 
contretemps of a voyage where one's only workmen 
are Indians, and where food must be sought from 
day to day in the rivers and forests, consume no 
little time. In my late voyage, in addition to my 
botanical collections, I brought away with me rough 
maps of the rivers Pacimoni and Cunucuniima, with 
materials for constructing them more accurately at 
a future day ; a few sketches, including a good deal 
of picture-writing ; and vocabularies, more or less 
complete, of six" different languages, including that 
of the Guaharibo Indians. But there are persons 
who would have done much more, and some one 
will come after me, possessing more health and 
strength, aided by industrious hands, and with 
resources of every kind at his disposal, who will 
complete whatever I have left imperfect. 
[The following is the story of Custodio, the 
Comisario of the Pacimoni river on the Casiquiari, 
as told to Spruce by himself. — Ed.] 
Custodio is a dark mulatto, nearly black, apparently from forty- 
five to fifty years old, tall, stout, and good-looking. He was born 
a slave in the village of Barraroa ^ on the Rio Negro. His master 
treated him well — even as though he had been his son — he had 
no son of his own. When Custodio grew up he accompanied his 
master in his expeditions on the Uaupes, Marania, etc., in quest 
of salsa and other products of the country, and was often entrusted 
to trade alone with a quantity of goods. He thus visited the 
Marania in eight successive years and became well acquainted 
with Yabahana Indians, who inhabit the sources of that river. His 
^ [Sometimes called San Thomas, situated about midway between the Barra 
and Marabitanas. — Ed.] 
