2G4 
TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
\Marcli, 
There was now in the village an old Indian trader 
who had come from Medina, a town at the foot of the 
Andes, near Bogota, and from him and some other 
Indians I obtained much information relative to that 
* 
part of the country, and the character of the streams j 
that flow from the mountains down to the Orinooko. ^ 
He informed me that he had ascended by the river 
Muco, which enters the Orinooko above the Falls of 
Maypures, and by which he had reached a point within 
twenty miles of the upper waters of the Meta, opposite 
Medina. The river Muco had no falls or obstructions to 
navigation, and all the upper part of its com*se flowed 
through an open country, and had fine sandy beaches ; 
so that between this river and the Guaviare is the ter- 
mination of the great forest of the Amazon valley. 
The weather was now terribly wet. For successive 
days and nights rain was incessant, and a few hours of 
sunshine was a rarity. Insects were few, and those 1 1 
procured it was almost impossible to dry. In the drying f 
box they got destroyed by mould, and if placed in the 
open air and exposed ^o the sun minute flies laid eggs | 
upon them, and they were soon eaten up by maggots. I 
The only way I could preserve them was to hang them 
up some time every evening and morning over my fire. 
I now began to regret more than ever my loss of the fine ^ 
season, as I was convinced that I could have reaped 
a splendid harvest. I had, too, just began to initiate 
the Indian boys into catching beetles for me, and was 
accumulating a very nice collection. Every evening 
three or four would come in with their treasures in 
pieces of bamboo, or carefully tied up in leaves. I pm:-| 
