SOUTH AMERICA. 
41 
spent to think of proceeding. You must be very first 
, r. . , . , JOURNEY. 
cautious before you venture to swim across this creek,- 
for the alligators are numerous, and near twenty feet 
long. On the present occasion, the Indians took 
uncommon precautions, lest they should be devoured 
by this cruel and voracious reptile. They cut long 
sticks, and examined closely the side of the creek for 
half a mile above and below the place where it was 
to be crossed; and as soon as the boldest had swam 
over, he did the same on the other side, and then 
all followed. 
After passing the night on the opposite bank, which 
is well wooded, it is a brisk walk of nine hours before 
you reach four Indian huts, on a rising ground, a few 
hundred paces from a little brook, whose banks are 
covered over with coucourite and asta trees. 
This is the place you ought to have come to, two 
days ago, had the water permitted you. In crossing 
the plain at the most advantageous place, you are 
above ankle-deep in water for three hours; the 
remainder of the way is dry, the ground gently rising. 
As the lower parts of this spacious plain put on some¬ 
what the appearance of a lake, during the periodical 
rains, it is not improbable but that this is the place 
which hath given rise to the supposed existence of 
the famed Lake Parima, or El Dorado ; but this is 
mere conjecture. 
A few deer are feeding on the coarse rough grass Deer, 
of this far-extending plain ; they keep at a distance 
from you, and are continually on the look out. 
The spur-winged plover, and a species of the 
