194 
DANGEBOUS ACCIDENT. 
animals. Scarcely is one male found among several hun- 
dred females. The cause of this disparity cannot be the 
same as with the crocodiles, which fight in the coupling 
season. 
Our pilot had anchored at the Play a de huevos, to pur- 
chase some provisions, our store having began to run short- 
We found there fresh meat, Angostura rice, and even biscuit 
made of wheat-flour. Our Indians filled the boat with 
little live turtles, and eggs dried in the sun,. for their oW® 
use. Having taken leave of the missionary of Uruana, who 
had treated us with great kindness, we set sail about fo®* 
in the afternoon. The wind was fresh, and blew in squab* 
Since we had entered the mountainous part of the country 
we had discovered that our canoe carried sail very badly 
but the master was desirous of showing the Indians wu 
were assembled on the beach, that, by going close to ,* 
wind, he could reach, at one single tack, the middle of 
river. At the very moment when he was boasting of hi- 
dexterity, and the boldness of his manoeuvre, the force 0 
the wind upon the sail became so great that we were oh 
the point of going down. One side of the boat was undo 
water, which rushed in with such violence that it was so° g 
up to our knees. It washed over a little table at which I 
writing at the stem of the boat. I had some difliculty 1 
save my journal, and in an instant we saw our books, pap e _ 
and dried plants, all afloat. M. Bonpland was lying aslu-T. 
in the middle of the canoe. Awakened by the entrance . 
the water and the cries of the Indians, he understood t‘ 
danger of our situation, whilst lie maintained that cooln* 
which he always displayed in the most difficult circumstanc ' 
The lee-side righting itself from time to time during 
squall, he did not consider the boat as lost.. He tboug 
that, were we even forced to abandon it, we might save.o^j. 
selves by swimming, since there was no crocodile in sig 11 
Amidst this uncertainty the cordage of the sail suddeW 
gave way. The same gust of wind, that had thrown us 
our beam, served also to right us. We laboured to bale * 
water out of the boat with calabashes, the sail was again & J 
and in less than half an hour wo were in a state to. prove. ^ 
The wind now abated a little. Squalls alternating TjK 
dead calms are common in that part of the Orinoco wo 
