492 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
and it may be imagined in what a state of mind I 
passed the rest of the night, never allowing my eye 
and ear to relax their watchfulness for a moment. 
However, they did not once stir to see what had 
become of me, 'and at length the break of day 
relieved me partly from my anxiety, but not en- 
tirely, for in that lonely place the dark deed contem- 
plated might have been done almost as secretly by 
day as by night ; and when shortly afterwards Pedro 
Yurebe came to offer to accompany me to the Barra, 
I took care while conversing with him never to 
move out of reach of my gun. Of course I declined 
his offer, excusing myself on the supposition that 
the Commandant of the Brazilian frontier would 
not allow him to pass on account of his name not 
being entered in the passport along with the others. 
Though Pedro Yurebe was left behind, I took 
care throughout the rest of the voyage that the 
Indians should never approach me unarmed, and 
I never spent a gloomier time. On the very first 
night, at the mouth of the Guasie, after supper the 
Indians lay down on a slightly sloping rock which 
there formed the river's bank. The montaria was 
fastened to the poop of the piragua and to the 
rounded top of a rock which stood out of the water 
close by. A little past midnight I had occasion to 
turn out of the cabin ; the moon was just setting, 
and I noticed that the Indians had left their first 
berth and were all sitting together on the top of 
the stone to which the montaria was fastened. I 
could have no doubt they had planned getting into 
the montaria and silently eloping up the Guasie 
as they had first proposed doing. I therefore took 
out my gun and laid it gently on the top of the 
