172 INDIAN GIRL-CROCODILES. and advanced southward. As they proceeded they found the country more dusty, and destitute of herbage. The palm-trees gradually disappeared. From eleven in the morning till sunset the thermometer kept at 95°. Although the air was calm at the height of eight or ten feet, the ground was swept by little currents which raised clouds of dust. About four in the afternoon, they observed in the savanna a young Indian girl, twelve or thirteen years of age, quite naked, lying on her back, exhausted with fatigue and thirst, and with her eyes, nostrils, and mouth filled with dust. Her breathing was stertorous, and she was unable to answer the questions put to her. Happily one of the mules was laden with water, the application of which to her face aroused her. She was at first frightened, but by degrees took courage, and conversed with the guides. As she could not be prevailed upon to mount the beasts of burden, nor to return to Urituco, she was furnished with some water; upon which she resumed her way, and was soon separated from her preservers by a cloud of dust. In the night they forded the Rio Urituco, which is filled with crocodiles remarkable for their ferocity, although those of the Rio Tisnao, in the neighbourhood, are not at all dangerous. They were shown a hut or shed, in which a singular scene had been witnessed by their host of Calabozo, who, having slept in it upon a bench covered with leather, was awakened early in the morning by a violent shaking, accompanied with a horrible noise. Presently an alligator, two or three feet long, issued from under the bed, and darted at a dog lying on the threshold, but missing him, ran towards the river. When the spot where the bench stood was examined, the dried mud was found turned up to a considerable depth, where the alligator had lain in its state of torpidity, or summer sleep. The hut being situated on the edge of a pool, and inundated during part of the MESA DE PAVONES. 173 year, the animal had no doubt entered at that period and concealed itself in the mire. The Indians often find enormous boas, or water-serpents, in the same lethargic state. On the 25th March they passed over the smoothest part of the steppes of Caraccas, the Mesa de Pavones. As far as the eye could reach, no object fifteen inches high could be discovered, excepting cattle, of which they met some large herds, accompanied by flocks of the crotophaga ani, a bird of a black colour, with olive reflections. They were exceedingly tame, and perched upon the quadrupeds in search of insects. Wherever excavations had been made, they found the rock to be old red sandstone or conglomerate, in which were observed fragments of quartz, kieselschiefer, and lydian stone. The cementing clay is ferruginous, and often of a very bright red. This formation, which covers an extent of several thousand square leagues, rests on the northern margin of the plains upon transition-slate, and to the south upon the granites of the Orinoco. After wandering a long time on the desert and pathless savannas of the Mesa de Pavones, they were agreeably surprised to find a solitary farmhouse surrounded with gardens and pools of clear water. Farther on they passed the night near the village of San Geronymo del Guyaval, situated on the banks of the Rio Guarico, which joins the Apure. The ecclesiastic, who was a young man, and had no other habitation than his church, received them in the kindest manner. Crossing the Guarico, they encamped in the plain, and early in the morning pursued their way over low grounds, which are often inundated. On the 27th they arrived at the Villa de San Fernando, and terminated their journey over the llanos. P 2 174 SAN FERNANDO DE APURE. CHAPTER XVI. Voyage down the Rio Apure. San Fernando-Commencement of the Rainy Season-Progress of Atmospherical Phenomena-Cetaceous Animals-Voyage down the Rio Apure-Vegetation and Wild Animals-Crocodiles, Chiguires, and Jaguars-Don Ignacio and Donna Isabella-Water-fowl-Nocturnal Howlings in the Forest-Caribe-fish-Adventure with a Jaguar-Manatees-Mouth of the Rio Apure. THE town of San Fernando, which was founded only in 1789, is advantageously situated on a large navigable river, the Apure, a tributary of the Orinoco, near the mouth of another stream which traverses the whole province of Varinas, all the productions of which pass through it on their way to the coast. It is during the rainy season, when the rivers overflow their banks and inundate a vast extent of country, that commerce is most active. At this period the savannas are covered with water to the depth of twelve or fourteen feet, and present the appearance of a great lake, in the midst of which the farm-houses and villages are seen rising on islands scarcely elevated above the surface. Horses, mules, and cows perish in great numbers, and afford abundant food to the zamuros, or carrion vultures, as well as to the alligators. The inhabitants, to avoid the force of the currents, and the danger arising from the trees carried down by them, instead of ascending the course of the rivers, find it safer to cross the flats in their boats. San Fernando is celebrated for the excessive heat which prevails there during the greater part of the year. The travellers found the white sand of the shores, wherever it was exposed to the sun, to have INTENSE HEAT-THUNDER. 175 a temperature of 126.5°, at two in the afternoon. The thermometer, raised eighteen inches above the sand, indicated 109°: and at six feet, 101·7°. The temperature of the air in the shade was 97°. These observations were made during a dead calm, and when the wind began to blow, the heat increased three degrees. On the 28th March, Humboldt and his companion, being on the shore at sunrise, heard the thunder rolling all around, although as yet there were only scattered clouds, advancing in opposite directions towards the zenith. Deluc's hygrometer was at 53°, the thermometer stood at 74-7°, and the electrometer gave no particular indication. As the clouds mustered, the blue of the sky changed to deep azure, and then to gray; and when it was completely overcast the thermometer rose several degrees. Although a heavy rain fell, the travellers remained on the shore to observe the electrometer. When it was held at the height of six feet from the ground, the pith-balls generally separated only a few seconds before the lightning was seen. The separation was four lines. The electric charge remained the same for several minutes, and there were repeated oscillations from positive to negative. Towards the end of the storm the west wind blew with great impetuosity, and when the clouds dispersed the thermometer fell to 71'6°. Humboldt states, that he enters into these details because Europeans usually confine themselves to a description of the impression made on their minds by the solemn spectacle of a tropical thunder-storm; and because, in a country where the year is divided into two great seasons of drought and rain, it is interesting to trace the transition from the one to the other. In the valleys of Aragua, he had from the 18th February observed clouds forming in the evening, and in the beginning of March the accumulation of vesicular vapours became visible. Flashes of 176 PROGRESS OF ATMOSPHERIC lightning were seen in the south, and at sunset Volta's electrometer regularly displayed positive indications, the separation of the pith-balls being from three to four lines. After the 26th of the latter month, the electrical equilibrium of the atmosphere seemed broken, although the hygrometer still denoted great dryness. The following is an account of the atmospheric phenomena in the inland districts to the east of the cordilleras of Merida and New-Grenada, in the llanos of Venezuela, and the Rio Meta, from the fourth to the tenth degree of north latitude, wherever the rains continue from May to October, and consequently include the period of the greatest heat, which is in July and August :-"Nothing can equal the purity of the atmosphere from December to February. The sky is then constantly without clouds, and should one appear, it is a phenomenon that occupies all the attention of the inhabitants. The breeze from the east and north-east blows with violence. As it always carries with it air of the same temperature, the vapours cannot become visible through refrigeration. Towards the end of February and the beginning of March the blue of the sky is less intense; the hygrometer gradually indicates greater humidity; the stars are sometimes veiled by a thin stratum of vapours; their light ceases to be tranquil and planetary; and they are seen to sparkle from time to time at the height of 20° above the horizon. At this period the breeze diminishes in strength, and becomes less regular, being more frequently interrupted by dead calms. Clouds accumulate towards the south-east, appearing like distant mountains with distinct outlines. From time to time they are seen to separate from the horizon, and traverse the celestial vault with a rapidity which has no cerrespondence with the feebleness of the wind that prevails in the lower strata of the air. At the ed of March the southern region of the atmosphere is |