CHAPTER XIV 
DOWN THE RIO NEGRO FROM SAN CARLOS TO 
MANAOS 
{November 23, 1854, to March 14, 1855) 
[This chapter completes the record of Spruce's 
five years' exploration of the Rio Negro and Upper 
Orinoco, with several of their tributaries. It con- 
sists of a rather full Journal of his voyage down 
the river — at the very beginning of which he 
narrowly escaped assassination — an account of a 
botanising excursion from the Barra, together with 
three short articles on characteristics of the vege- 
tation, and extracts from letters to Sir William 
Hooker and Mr. Bentham, which serve to bind 
together the rather fragmentary materials into a 
personal narrative. The ''Charlie" mentioned at 
p. 496 appears to be the sailor again referred to 
in the following chapter, whose engagement turned 
out to be so disastrous.] 
Nov. 23 {Thursday). — This day about noon I 
left San Carlos. My crew consisted of four Indians ; 
two of them were sons of the pilot (Pedro Deno). 
On the same day at 4 p.m. we reached the pilot's 
cuniico, a little within a narrow cano on the left 
bank, and stayed the night. Here a plot was laid 
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