844 
DANGEROUS RENCONTRE. 
Ilo held almost over my head a macana, which is a great 
stick of palm-tree wood, enlarged to the end like a club. 1 
avoided the stroke by leaping towards the left ; but M. Bon- 
pland, who walked on my right, was less fortunate. He did 
not see the Zambo so soon as I did, and received a stroke 
above the temple, which levelled him with the ground. We 
were alone, without arms, half a league from any habitation, 
on a vast plain bounded by the sea. The Zambo, instead 
of attacking me, moved off slowly to pick up M. Bonplaud’s 
hat, which, having somewhat deadened the violence of the 
blow, had fallen off and lay at some distance. Alarmed at 
seeing my companion on the ground, and for some moments 
senseless, I thought of him only. I helped him to raise 
himself, and pain and anger doubled his strength. We ran 
toward the Zambo, who, either from cowardice, common 
enough in people of this caste, or because he perceived at a 
distance some men on the beach, did not wait for us, but 
ran oft in the direction of the Tunal, a little thicket of cactus 
and arborescent avicennia. He chanced to fall in running; 
and M. Bonpland, who reached him first, seized him round 
the body. The Zambo drew a long knife ; and in this un- 
equal struggle we should infallibly have been wounded, if 
some Biscayan merchants, who were taking the air on the 
beach, had not come to our assistance. The Zambo seeing 
himself surrounded, thought no longer of defence. He again 
ran away, and wo pursued him through the thorny cactuses. 
At length, tired out, he took shelter in a cow-house, whence 
he suffered himself to ho quietly led to prison. 
M. Bonpland was seized with fever during the night ; but 
being endowed with great energy and fortitude, and pos- 
sessing that cheerful disposition which is one of the most 
precious gifts of nature, lie continued his labours the next 
day. The stroke of the macana had extended to the top of 
his head, and he felt its cifect for the space of two or three 
months during the stay we made at Caracas. When stooping 
to collect plants, he was sometimes seized with giddiness, 
which led us to fear that an internal abscess was forming. 
Happily these apprehensions were unfounded, and the symp- 
toms, at first alarming, gradually disappeared. The inha- 
bitants of Curnana showed us the kindest interest. It was 
ascertained that the Zambo was a native of one of the 
