312 
WATER-SHAKES. 
or ten feet high ; they are concealed by a row of palms, and 
small trees with slender trunks, the roots of which are bath ed 
by the waters. There are many crocodiles from the point 
where you quit the Orinoco to the mission of San Fernando, 
and their presence indicates that this part of the river be- 
longs to the Rio Guaviare and not to the Atabapo. In the 
real bed of the latter river, ‘above the mission of San 
Fernando, there are no crocodiles : we find there some 
lavas, a great many fresh-water dolphins, but no manatis. 
We also seek in vain on these banks for the thick- 
nosed tapir, the araguato, or great howling monkey, the 
zamuro, or Yultur aura, and the crested pheasant, known by 
the name of guacharaca. Enormous water-snakes, in shape 
resembling the boa, are unfortunately very common, and are 
dangerous to Indians who bathe. We saw them almost 
from the first day we embarked, swimming by the side ol 
our canoe ; they were at most twelve or fourteen feet long- 
The jaguars of the banks of the Atabapo and the Temi are 
large and well fed ; they are said, however, to be less daring 
than the jaguars of the Orinoco. 
The night of the 27 th was beautiful ; dark clouds passed 
from time to time over the zenith with extreme rapidity- 
Not a breath of wind was felt in the lower strata of the 
atmosphere ; the breeze was at the height of a thousand 
toises. I dwell upon this peculiarity ; for the movement 
saw was not produced by the counter-currents (from west to 
east) which are sometimes thought to be observed in the 
torrid zone on the loftiest mountains of the Cordilleras ; j," 
was the effect of a real breeze, an east wind. We 
the conucos of Guapasoso at two o’clock ; and continued to 
ascend the river toward the south, finding it (or rather tha 
part of its bed which is free from trees) growing more a 111 
more narrow. It began to rain toward sunrise. In these 
forests, which are less inhabited by animals than those 0 , 
the Orinoco, we no longer heard the howlings of the m 011 ' 
keys. The dolphins, or toninus, sported by the side of °^ r 
boat. According to the relation of Mr. Colebrooke, the 
Delphinus gangeticus, which is the fresh-water porpoise 0 
the Old World, hi like manner accompanies the boats th a 
go up towards Benares ; but from Benares to the p 0111 
where the Ganges receives the salt waters is only two bu» 
