ACCOMMODATION ON BO A ED. 
215 
Annihilated. The human understanding exhibits only dif- 
ferent degrees of strength and development. The savage, 
hke the child, compares the present with the past; he 
directs his actions, not according to blind instinct, but 
motives of interest. .Reason can everywhere enlighten 
Reason ; and its progress -will be retarded in proportion as 
the men who are called upon to bring up youth, or govern 
Rations, substitute constraint and force for that moral 
influence which can alone unfold the rising faculties, calm 
the irritated passions, and give stability to social order. 
We could not set sail before ten on the morning of the 
tOth. To gain something in breadth in onr new canoe, a 
®ort of lattice-work had been constructed on the stem with 
tranches of trees, that extended on each side beyond, the 
gunwale. Unfortunately, the toldo or roof of leaves, that 
covered this lattice-work, was so low that we were obliged 
0 he down, without seeing anything, or, if seated, to sit 
early double. The necessity of carrying the canoe across 
ie rapids, and even from one river to another ; and the fear 
?: giving too much hold to the wind, by making the toldo 
mgher, render this construction necessary for vessels that 
u.p towards the Rio Negro. The toldo was intended to 
j-uver four persons, lying on the deck or lattice-work of 
r ush-wood; but our legs reached far beyond it, and when it 
a med half our bodies were wet. Our couches consisted of 
x -hides or tiger-skins, spread upon branches of trees, which 
er e painfully felt through so thin a covering. The fore 
flm’t of the boat was filled with Indian rowers, furnished 
paddles, three feet long, in the form of spoons. They 
r all naked, seated two by two, and they kept time in 
S;i T lu g with a surprising uniformity, singing songs of a 
n an d monotonous character. The small cages contain- 
our birds and our monkeys, the number of which aug- 
as we advanced, were hung some to the toldo 
>Ue °^ le ?’ s hhe bow of the boat. This was our travelling 
b v na § ei ’ie. Notwithstanding the frequent losses occasioned 
to aeci dents, and above all by the fatal effects of exposure 
the 
0Ur s un, we had fourteen of these little animals alive at 
'•‘oil return from the Cassiquiare. Naturalists, who wish to 
'uort^ Ct bring living animals to Europe, might cause 
** fr* bo constructed expressly for this purpose at Angos- 
