462 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
frequent showers and the thousands of maggots 
bred in the flesh as it hung to dry demanding my 
constant vigilance. I could place no dependence 
whatever on my Indians for turning the pieces of 
flesh as they needed or for seeking out the maggots, 
as they never half did the task. The smell of fresh 
beef was to them very disagreeable, although they 
had all learnt to eat it years ago. The rainy season 
is always bad for drying beef, but as it is the time of 
greatest hunger in this district, more cattle are 
killed at Maypures than in the summer. 
Exposure to the hot sun for several hours each 
day in the occupation of turning the flesh and 
clearing it of maggots did not produce any bene- 
ficial effects on me, and m.y previous rambles over 
the heated black rocks on the cerros and by the 
falls, together with the wetting I sustained on my 
arrival at Maypures, had probably already sown 
the seeds of fever in me. In ascending to San 
Fernando, which took me four days and five nights, 
symptoms declared themselves unmistakably. The 
canoe I had borrowed at San Fernando was small, 
as the current is so strong, especially in the wet 
season, that larger vessels often spend two weeks 
on the voyage. My stock of dried plants and of 
beef, together with the few necessaries of a voyage, 
occupied so much space in the tolda that I was 
compelled to half-sit, half-lie in a very uneasy 
posture at the entrance, where it was impossible 
to protect myself completely from sun and rain, 
although at night I fortified myself with blankets 
as well as I could. Every day was rainy, and the 
nights were worse than the days. When I reached 
San Fernando I had been for two days nearly 
