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diff --git a/old/50506-0.txt b/old/50506-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6ca0b4b..0000000 --- a/old/50506-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5260 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Down the Orinoco in a Canoe, by S. Pérez Triana - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Down the Orinoco in a Canoe - -Author: S. Pérez Triana - -Release Date: November 20, 2015 [EBook #50506] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOWN THE ORINOCO IN A CANOE *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ORINOCO AND ITS TRIBUTARIES - High-resolution Map] - - - - - Down the Orinoco - in a Canoe - - - By - S. Pérez Triana - - With an Introduction by - R. B. Cunninghame Graham - - ‘Que ejcura que ejtá la Noche! - La Noche! que ejcura ejtá! - Asi de ejcura ej la ausencia ... - Bogá, Negrito, bogá, - Bogá!’ - Candelario Obeso - - - New York - Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. - Publishers - 1902 - - - - - PREFACE - - -‘Climas pasé, mudé constelaciones, golfos inavegables, -navegando.’—Ercilla: _La Araucana_. - -To read a book to which a friend has asked you to write a preface is an -unusual—nay, even a pedantic—thing to do. It is customary for a -preface-monger to look contemptuously at the unopened bundle of his -friend’s proofs, and then to sit down and overflow you his opinions upon -things created, and those which the creator has left in chaos. I plead -guilty at once to eccentricity, which is worse than the sin of -witchcraft, for witchcraft at one time may have exposed one to the -chance of the stake; but eccentricity at all times has placed one -outside the pale of all right-thinking men. To wear a different hat, -waistcoat, or collar, from those affected by the Apollos who perambulate -our streets, to cut your hair too short, to wear it by the twentieth -fraction of an inch too long, is _scandalum magnatum_, and not to be -endured. So in confessing that I have read ‘Down the Orinoco in a -Canoe,’ not only in the original Spanish in which it first appeared, but -in its English dress, is to condemn myself out of my own mouth, to be -set down a pedant, perhaps a palterer with the truth, and at the best a -man so wedded to old customs that I might almost be a Socialist. - -It is undoubtedly a far cry to Bogotá. Personally, more by good fortune -than by any effort of my own, I know with some degree of certainty where -the place is, and that it is not built upon the sea. My grandfather was -called upon to mediate between Bolivar and General Paez, and I believe -acquitted himself to the complete dissatisfaction of them both. Such is -the mediator’s meed. - -The general public, of whom (or which) I wish to speak with all respect, -is generally, I take it, in the position of the American Secretary of -State to whom an office-seeker came with a request to be appointed the -United States Vice-Consul for the town of Bogotá. The request was duly -granted, and as the future Consul left the room the Secretary turned to -the author of this book, and said: ‘Triany, where in thunder is Bogoter, -any way?’ Still, Bogotá to-day is, without doubt, the greatest literary -centre south of Panama. Putting aside the floods of titubating verse -which, like a mental dysentery, afflict all members of the -Spanish-speaking race, in Bogotá more serious literary work is done -during a month than in the rest of the republics in a year. The -President himself, Don José Manuel Marroquin, during the intervals of -peace—which in the past have now and then prevailed in the republic over -which he rules—has found the time to write a book, ‘El Moro,’ in which -he draws the adventures of a horse. The book is written not without -literary skill, contains much lore of horsemanship, and is a veritable -mine of local customs; and for the moral of it—and surely Presidents, -though not anointed, as are Kings, must have a moral in all they write, -they do and say—it is enough to make a man incontinently go out and pawn -his spurs. - -Thus, Bogotá, set in its plateau in Columbian wilds, is in a way a kind -of Chibcha Athens. There all men write, and poets rave and madden -through the land, and only wholesome necessary revolutions keep their -number down. Still, in the crowd of versifiers one or two, such as -Obeso, the negro poet, who, being denied all access to the lady of his -love—the colour line being strictly drawn in Bogotá, as well befits a -democratic government—brought out a paper once a week, entitled _Lectura -para ti_, have written verse above the average of Spanish rhyme. Others, -again, as Gregorio Gutierrez Gonzalez and Samuel Uribe Velazquez have -written well on local matters, and Juan de Dios Carasquilla has produced -a novel called ‘Frutos de mi Tierra,’ far better than the average -‘epoch-making’ work of circulating library and press. - -Pérez Triana, son of an ex-President, and speaking English and Spanish -with equal fluency, is a true son of Bogotá, and writes as easily as -other people talk. - -His book occurred in this wise. The usual biennial revolution having -placed his enemies in power, he found it requisite to leave the country -with all speed. The seaports being watched, he then determined, like -Fray Gaspar de Carbajal, to launch his boat upon the Orinoco, and, that -the parallel should be exact, write an account of all he saw upon the -way. Few books of travel which I have come across contain less details -of the traveller himself. Strangely enough, he rescued no one -single-handed from great odds. His strength and valour, and his -fertility of brain in times of peril, together with his patience, far -exceeding that of Indian fakirs, are not obtruded on the bewildered -reader, as is usual in like cases. - -Though armed, and carrying on one occasion so much lethal stuff as to -resemble, as he says himself, a ‘wandering arsenal,’ he yet slew no one, -nor did he have those love adventures which happen readily to men in -foreign lands from whom a kitchen wench would turn in scorn in their own -native town: nothing of empire and little of patriotism is there in his -book. In fact, he says that those who are his countrymen are those who -have the same ideals as himself—a cursed theory which, if it once -obtained, would soon abolish Custom-houses, and render armies useless, -make navies all to be sold for scrap iron, and would leave hundreds of -patriotic sweaters without a platitude. What chiefly seems to have -appealed to this unusual traveller was the strangeness and beauty of the -long reaches on the interminable waterways, the brightness of the moon, -the thousand noises of the desert night, the brilliant birds, -kaleidoscopic fish, and the enchantment of a world remote from all that -to a really well-constituted modern mind makes life endurable. At times, -although I tremble as I write, it seems to me he doubts of things which -we all take on trust, such as the Stock Exchange. Even the army is not -sacred to this democrat, sprung from a shameless State in which there is -no King, and which, consequently, can never hope to contemplate a -Coronation show, for he retails a joke current in Columbia, but which, I -think, if duly followed up, might be encountered in Menander, or, at the -least, in Aristophanes. A Columbian Mayor of a town sent to the -President a hundred volunteers, with a request that all the ropes should -be returned. Jokes such as these cannot be helpful to a State; in fact, -a joke at all is to a serious man a rank impertinence, and if an author -wishes to obtain a place within the ranks of Anglo-Saxon literature, he -should not joke at all, or, if he does, joke about fat or thin men, bald -heads or sea-sickness, or on some subject which the great public mind -has set apart for wit. However, as a member of the Latin race, it cannot -reasonably be expected of him that at one bound he should attain unto -the fulness of our Anglo-Saxon grace. - -The careful reader of this book may possibly be struck with the -different point of view from which a Latin looks at many questions which -to an Englishman are set immovably as the foundations of the world, -embedded in the putty of our prejudice. - -For instance, on arriving at the open plains after a tedious journey -across mountain ranges and through forest paths, the thing that -interests the author most is that the land in the Columbian _llanos_ is -not held in many instances by individuals, but that so scant is -population that it is open to all those who choose to take it up. This -does not strike him as a folly or as affording room for speculation, but -simply as a fact which, on the whole, he seems rather to approve of, but -without enthusiasm, looking upon the matter as a curious generality, but -not inclining to refine or to reduce it to any theory in particular. A -state of mind almost impossible for Saxons (Anglo or Celtic), who, as a -general rule, seem quite incapable of looking at a proposition as a -whole, but must reduce it to its component parts. - -The voyage in itself was memorable, for no one of the party seems to -have been the least the kind of man who generally ventures upon journeys -of the sort, and furthermore because, since the first conquerors went -down the river with the faith that in their case, if rightly used, might -have smoothed out all the mountain ranges in the world, no one except a -stray adventurer, or india-rubber trader, has followed in their steps. -Leal, the jaguar-hunter, who slew his tigers as I have seen them slain -in Paraguay, on foot, with a forked stick in one hand and in the other a -bamboo lance; the Indian guide Gatiño; and the young Venezuelan Governor -of a State, who, shut up in his house, fought to the death, his -mistress, an ex-ballet dancer, handing him up loaded guns, are to the -full as striking characters as I have met in any book of travels outside -the types that crowd the pages of the ‘Conquistadores’ of America. The -naked Indian in his canoe, before whose eyes the immeasurable wealth of -powder, looking-glasses, a red flannel shirt, and other treasures, rich -and rare to him, were spread, who yet had strength of mind to scorn them -all rather than pledge his liberty for two days’ paddling, is the kind -of Indian that merits such a chronicler as he has found. Long may he -paddle on the _caños_ and the _aguapeys_, and die, still crowned with -feathers and with liberty, as did his fathers, by some forgotten beach -or by some _morichal_, where parrots chatter and toucans flit through -the leaves, and hummingbirds hover like bees above the tropic flowers. - -What most delights me in the book is that the author had no settled plan -by means of which he strove to square the circle of the globe. - -‘We wandered,’ as he says, ‘with the definite aim of reaching the -Atlantic Ocean. Beyond that we did not venture to probe too deeply the -mysterious and wonderful manifestations of Nature, but took them as they -appeared to our limited means of vision and understanding, and sought -nothing beyond.’ - -A charming way to travel, and a wise, and if not profitable to commerce, -yet to literature, for books writ in the fashion of this brief record of -a trip through the great waterways of Venezuelan and Columbian wilds, -although perhaps not ‘epoch-making,’ yet live and flourish when the -smart travellers’ tales, bristling with paltry facts and futile figures, -which for a season were sea-serpents in the press, have long been pulped -to make the soles of ammunition boots. - - R. B. CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM. - - - - - DOWN THE ORINOCO - IN A CANOE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - -The hour was about ten one evening in December, which in equatorial -Andine latitudes is a month of clear skies, cold winds, and starry -nights. The moon shone brilliantly, casting upon the ground shadows as -clear as those caused by a strong electric light. Truly, the local poet -who said that such nights as these might serve as days in other lands -was right. - -We came out—three of us, Alex, Fermin and I—through an old Spanish -gateway, a rectangular structure of _adobes_, or sun-burnt bricks, -capped with a slanting roof of tiles, dark-reddish and moss-covered, -with a swinging gate of cross wooden beams, held together by iron bolts. -This was the gateway of the _hacienda_ of Boita, about thirty miles -north of the city of Bogotá, in the South American Republic of Colombia. -We passed into the open road, and turned our horses and our minds -northwards. - -From south to north, as far as eyes could see, stretched the road, an -old Spanish causeway, bordered on either side by low-lying stone fences, -in front of which were ditches filled with water and covered with -vegetation. - -The ground was hard with the consistency of baked clay. As no rain had -fallen for weeks, the dust was thick, and the horses’ hoofs rang like -hammer-strokes upon muffled or broken brass. We let the reins hang -loose, and the horses, knowing their way, started at a brisk canter. -Wrapped in thought and in our _ponchos_, we journeyed on. - -No sound was audible; we seemed to be travelling through a deserted or -dead world; the neighbouring meadows, black beneath the moon, contrasted -with the grayish white line of the broad causeway. Now and then the -solitary houses, some close to the road, some far back, loomed up with -the magic-lantern effects of moonlight, and their white walls seemed -like huge tombstones in that lonely cemetery. Sometimes we crossed -bridges, under which the water lay motionless, as though enchanted by -the universal stillness; only a gentle breeze, causing ripples on the -neighbouring pools, made them glitter and revealed their presence. A cow -or a stray heifer would poise its head across the stone fence and watch -us with wondering moist eyes, whilst two tiny columns of condensed -breath rose from its nostrils. - -Beyond, black and frowning, misshapen and mysterious, the huge boulders -of the Andes raised their vague outlines, forming a sort of irregular -circle, in some directions quite close to us, in others lost in the -darkness which the moon and the stars were too remote to overcome. -Indeed, that other local poet was also right in thinking that under the -brilliant moon those mountains looked like huge sepulchres, wherein are -stored the ashes of dead worlds upon which judgment had been passed. - -And so we journeyed on. - -Many travellers have observed that whenever a voyage of a certain nature -is undertaken—one that for some reason or other differs from the -ordinary transference of one’s self elsewhere, when through -circumstances beyond our control we know that the moment of starting -necessarily marks an epoch in our lives, even as the beginning of a -descent or an ascent from the summit or the foot of a mountain -necessarily marks a change in our motions—our thoughts fly backwards, -and not only cover the immediate time and space behind us, but, once -started, plunge, so to speak, with the rapidity inherent to them, into -the deepest recesses of our memory, so that, as our bodies are carried -forward, our minds revisit old scenes, we hold converse with old -friends, and the old-time world seems to live and throb again within our -hearts. - -Unheeding the clatter of the horses’ hoofs, which was the only -perceptible noise, my mind flew across the few leagues that separated me -from my dear quaint old native town, cradled there to the south at the -foot of two hills, each crowned by a tiny church. I saw its streets -meeting at right angles, its two streams, dubbed rivers, parched with -thirst, crawling under the ancient arched Spanish bridges, its low -houses, with their enclosing _patios_ planted with roses and flowers -that bloom all the year round, with fountains murmuring in the midst, -and creepers covering the columns and the ceilings of the open -corridors, and then climbing out of sight; the numerous churches, each -one with its familiar legend; the convents—solid, spacious—turned into -barracks or public offices or colleges; the still old cells desecrated, -their dividing walls torn down so as to convert the space into large -halls, and, ruthless iconoclasm having carried away the statues of the -saints, no other trace of religion left but a stone cross, or a carved -saint’s face set too high above ground to be reached by irreverent -hands. - -Yes, there was the little Church of Holy Humility—El Humilladero—an -_adobe_ structure, a mere hut, yet reverenced beyond words as being, so -tradition said, the first church built in the land. And not far from it -the Church of la Tercera and its convent, about which gruesome tales -were told. Its monks never slept on mattresses, and, as they felt death -approaching, would have themselves placed upon the ground to die close -to their Mother Earth; and one of them, it was said, for some -misdeameanour or possibly greater fault, had committed suicide, and -wandered headless—people had seen him—on dark and stormy nights through -the neighbouring street of the Arch, as it was called, though of the -arch nothing but the memory remained. And close to that convent of la -Tercera was the other one of the jolly Franciscan Fathers, four -beautiful _patios_ surrounded with broad cloisters, into which opened -over 600 cells, each provided, besides the sitting and sleeping room, -with a snug kitchen, old Moorish style, an open hearth for charcoal -fire, on which meats were roasted and earthenware saucepans simmered and -purred all day long, extracting the juice from beef, mutton, plantains, -mañoc, green corn, potatoes, and the other numerous vegetables of that -region, forming a most substantial broth, a peculiarly rich _pot-au-feu_ -which enabled the reverend monks to recruit their strength and spirits -after the pious labours of the day; and with this came, it is said, a -copious supply of that beer, _chicha_, brewed from molasses and Indian -corn, strong and delicious—to those who like it. These reverend monks, -it is said, owned broad lands and numerous herds, and each had a lay -brother who looked after the material wants of his superior, and -received daily rations sufficient for ten or twenty men, so that a great -part of them was sold by the monks to the profane outside the cloister -walls. As the lay brother looked after all these worldly interests, he -enabled the monk to devote his whole time and attention to finding a -smooth path to heaven, not only for himself, but for as many others of -his fellow-creatures as he met. - -But though of good cheer, they were not lacking in piety, nor were they -unable to withstand temptation. Their church was beautiful, all full of -gilt columns, carved woodwork, niches with statues of saints displaying -rich silks and gems and gold embroidery. - -And though many of these things had disappeared in my day, and of the -monks only a few more vital spirits survived, downcast and forlorn, -lamenting the good old times, yet enough remained to give an idea of the -happier age. - -A proof of the virtue of the monks was visible at the entrance of the -church looking on the main street, where the Evil One himself had -branded it, so to say, for the greater glory of God and the renown of -the convent. - -It was whispered that Father Antonio, who combined profane -accomplishments with spiritual insight, skilled in playing the guitar, -not averse to a song or two, fond of cards for a friendly quiet game -with the Father Superior and two or three other plump, kind-hearted -brethren, where small sums were staked merely to give zest to the game, -discovered to his horror one night that the Evil One, possibly in memory -of his namesake (the monk’s, not the Evil One’s), had decided to tempt -his virtue, and appeared in his cell in the guise of a beautiful damsel. - -Alas! the Evil One had reckoned without his host. Holy water was poured -upon him, the cross with the Redeemer nailed on it which lay handy was -taken up by Antonio, so that Beelzebub in his fright jumped out of the -window with such force that his cloven foot left its imprint upon the -granite slab outside the church, and this imprint I saw myself in my -very young years. Although many people continue to see it, I have grown -so short-sighted that, strive as I may, the stone now appears untouched -and like the others. But then these things will happen, and they -certainly should not lead us to doubt so pious a tradition. - -And so all the old memories of the town kept passing before me. I saw a -living panorama, silent, bathed in mysterious light, moving slowly in -the background of the mind, large, infinite in its magnitude, with space -in it for men and buildings and mountains and rivers and broad plains -and leafy forests, and, what is more, with space in it for Time, the -boundless Time that contains all and everything. - -Schooldays, holidays spent in the neighbouring towns and villages which -lie in the warmer valleys, my first voyage to a certain distance, and -then across the ocean—life, in fact, with its ebb and flow under various -suns and in different continents—all came back; but it were out of place -to give my reflections on them here. - -Then, pausing for one moment as a bird alights on the mast of a ship -before launching forth into mid-ocean, my mind rested for an instant on -the old cemetery where so many loved ones slumbered. Alas! when we leave -the graves of those whom we have loved, not knowing when we shall again -kneel upon the sod that covers them, we feel that death itself has not -severed the link that bound us to those who were blood of our blood and -bone of our bone. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - -A little geography may not be amiss here. A glance at the map will show -that the city of Bogotá is situated upon a vast plateau, at an altitude -of about 8,500 feet above sea-level, 4 degrees from the equator, and 75 -degrees to the west of Greenwich. Its position in the continent is -central. It is perched like a nest high up in the mountains. To reach -the ocean, and thus the outer world, the inhabitants of Bogotá are even -now still compelled to have recourse to quite primitive methods; true, -there are some apologies for railways starting northward, southward and -westward, but in some cases their impetus ends as soon as they reach the -end of the plain, and in others long before attaining that distance. -Once the railway journey finished—which does not exceed two or three -hours on any of the lines—the traveller has to content himself with the -ancient and slow method of riding, mostly mule riding. The ground is so -broken and the roads are so bad that horses could not cross them as -safely as that thoughtful, meditative, and much-maligned animal the -mule. After covering a distance of some ninety to one hundred miles -westward, the traveller reaches the town of Honda, which lies on the -Magdalena River. Here steam-boats are to be found, stern-wheeled, -shallow-bottomed, drawing no more than from 2½ to 3 feet, in which, -within four or five days, he makes the journey down to the sea-coast. - -The map of the country would seem to show that the easiest way from the -capital to the ocean would be towards the Pacific, and as the crow flies -such is the case; but between Bogotá and the Pacific Ocean the Andes, at -some period of their youth, must have frolicked and gambolled amongst -themselves and lost their way home, so that they now form the most -rugged country imaginable. Geographers, with that thirst for -classification that afflicts—or should I rather say animates?—men of -science, speak of two or three chains of mountains. The average man, -however, who has to travel over that country, conceives his task as -corresponding to a start made from one end of a huge comb, following the -developments of it from the root to the point of each tooth until -Providence and Nature take pity on him, and land him, so to speak, on -the sea-shore. - -Bogotá is no thoroughfare. When you get there, there you are, and if you -go there, it is because you were bent on it; it is not like other towns -that may be on the road to somewhere else, so that travellers may chance -to find themselves there. - -The plateau of Bogotá proper was formerly—no one knows how many -centuries or thousands of years ago—a lake of about eighty square miles -encased between the surrounding mountains. The waters of the lake broke -through the barrier of mountains towards the south, draining it, and -leaving the plateau dry, save for some small lakes that dot it here and -there, and a few rivers of no great importance. I could not help -thinking that this immense lake thus held aloft upon that mighty -pedestal at such an altitude formed a sort of gigantic goblet such as is -rarely seen under the sun. The river that marks the course through which -the waters are supposed to have been drained drags its sluggish waves -meandering in many turns and twists from north to south along the plain, -and gives a sudden leap of 750 feet through the open gap on the -mountain-side, forming those magnificent waterfalls called the -Tequendama. The river plunges headlong, as if to make up for its -previous semi-stagnant condition; it disappears between two mighty walls -of stone, polished as if chiselled by the hand of man; it roars with a -deafening sound; its waters appear, as they curl over the abyss, white -as the wool of a lamb, and their consistency conveys the impression of -wool rather than that of snow. The morning sun plays upon the mass of -waters, and crowns it with a halo of rainbows varying in size. On the -borders of the river, at the place where the cataract springs, are to be -seen evergreens and pine-trees, and other such plants belonging to the -temperate or cold zones; down below, where the water falls, and the -river reappears like a dying stream following its course in the lower -valley, palm-trees and tropical vegetation are to be seen, and birds of -variegated plumage, parrots, cockatoos, parroquets and others, fly like -living arrows from the sunlight, and plunge into the mist with piercing -shrieks amidst the deafening roar of the cataract. - -As we journeyed on in the cool night air, it seemed to me that the whole -country—north, south, east and west—lay at my feet, and to the mind’s -eye it appeared with its vast interminable plains to the east crossed by -numberless rivers, the mountain region to the north on the western side -of the Magdalena Valley, the broad plains in the Lower Magdalena, and -the rugged mountainous district of Antioquia on the western side of the -river, and then mountains and more mountains towards the Pacific Ocean. - -Surely, if a journey in these days presents such difficulties, the first -journey undertaken by the conquerors who discovered the plateau of -Bogotá, may be held for a feat worthy of those men who, whatever their -faults, were brave among the bravest. - -Towards the east of the Magdalena River, on the coast of the Atlantic, -the city of Santa Marta had been founded somewhere in 1530. News of the -vast empire alleged to exist in the interior of the country had reached -the founders of the town, and they soon decided to conquer that region -about which such marvels were told. In the month of August, 1536, an -expedition of 700 soldiers, infantry, and 80 horse left Santa Marta to -penetrate into the heart of the continent, confident in their courage, -and lusting for gold and adventure. This part of the expedition marched -by land, and 200 more men journeyed in boats along the river Magdalena. - -A full narrative of their adventures would be long. They met foes large -and small, from poisonous reptiles and the numerous insects which made -life a burden, to tigers and alligators: add to these fevers and -illnesses absolutely unknown to them. It is said that one man, whilst -sleeping in camp with all his companions, was snatched from his hammock -by a famished tiger. At times the rank and file seemed ripe for mutiny, -but the captain was a man of iron. His name was Gonzalo Jiménez de -Quesada. Though himself sore smitten by some disease peculiar to the -locality, he kept the lead, and dragged the rest in his train. Praise is -likewise due to the chaplain of the expedition, Domingo de las Casas, -who stoutly supported the commander. This friar was a kinsman of that -other friar Bartolomé de las Casas, whose unwearying efforts in behalf -of the native races won for him the well-deserved name of ‘Protector of -the Indians.’ - -After a while the boats and the shores of the great river were -abandoned, and the men found themselves in a mountainous country where -the temperature became more tolerable and pleasant as they climbed -higher. Finally, their eyes beheld the Empire of the Chibchas. What a -joy—after toil and suffering which had lasted over seventeen months, -when only 160 of the original expedition were left—to gaze upon a land -where cultivated fields were seen in all directions, and the -hearth-smoke rising from the houses to heaven! This was the land of the -Chibchas, who formed an empire second only to that of the Incas of Peru -and the Aztecs of Mexico. They had a religion—by no means a bad one as -religions went amongst the American aborigines—they had their code of -laws, their division of time, their rules and codes in all matters -appertaining to family life and administration of government; they -tilled the soil, they believed in the immortality of the soul, they -reverenced their dead, and practised barter according to well-defined -laws. - -The thousands and thousands of soldiers which the Zipa or King of the -Chibchas could bring against the Spaniards were overawed rather than -overcome by force. The greater sagacity of the Spaniards, coupled with -their courage, soon made them masters of the land. Jiménez de Quesada -founded the city of Bogotá in 1537. He chose a spot on the plains which -suited him—where the city now stands—and, clad in full armour, -surrounded by his companions and by a large crowd of Indians, plucked -some grass from the ground, and, unsheathing his sword, declared that he -took possession of the land for the greater glory of God as the property -of his King and master, Charles V. of Spain. Then turning, with a fierce -glance, to those who surrounded him, he challenged one and all to single -combat should they dare to dispute his action. Naturally, no dispute -arose, and so the title was acquired. They had their own peculiar ways, -those old Spanish conquerors! A similar method was followed by Nuñez de -Balboa, when, in the name of his King and master, he took possession of -the Pacific Ocean with whatever lands and islands might border on it, -stepping into the waters clad in full armour, holding the flag of Spain -in his left hand, and his trusty Toledo blade—_la de Juanes_—in his -right. - -To speak of this conquest of the Chibcha Empire recalls the fact that -the land of Bogotá was really the land of El Dorado. _El Dorado_ in -Spanish means the gilt one, the man covered with gold, and all -chroniclers and historians of the early period are agreed as to the -origin of the tradition. - -The King of the Chibchas, amongst whom power and property passed by law -of inheritance from uncle to nephew, was called the Zipa. His power as a -monarch was absolute, but to attain the dignity of what we should -nowadays call Crown Prince, and to become in due course King, it was not -enough to be a nephew, or even to be the right nephew. The prospective -heir to the throne had to qualify himself by passing through an ordeal -which Princes of other nations and other times would certainly find most -obnoxious. He had to live in a cave for six years, fasting the whole -time, with limited rations, barely enough to sustain life. No meat or -salt were to be eaten during the whole time. He must see no one, with -the exception of his male servants, nor was he even allowed to gaze upon -the sun. Only after sunset and before sunrise might he issue from his -cave. After this ordeal he was qualified, but should he have so much as -cast his eyes upon a woman during that period, his rights to the throne -were lost. The consecration, so to speak, of the Zipa took the form of a -most elaborate ceremony. The prospective Zipa would betake himself—being -carried upon a special sort of frame so arranged that twenty men -standing under it could lift it upon their shoulders—to one of the five -sacred lakes that still exist in the plateau, generally to the lake of -Guatavita. There, stripped naked, his body was smeared with a resinous -substance, upon which gold-dust was sprinkled in large quantities. -Naturally, after this process the man appeared like unto a very statue -of gold. Two other high dignitaries or chiefs, called Caciques, as nude -as the Zipa, would go with him upon a raft of twisted reeds and slowly -paddle into the centre of the lake. All round the shore was a dense -crowd, burning a species of aromatic herb which produced clouds of -smoke. On every hand was heard the sound of music, or, rather, of noises -representing the music customary at all ceremonies. On the raft, at the -feet of the Zipa, lay a huge pile of gold and emeralds. Each of his -companions, too, had gold and emeralds, wherewith to propitiate the god -in whose honour the ceremony was performed. One of the chiefs in the -raft would raise a white flag and wave it. The noise on the shores -became deafening, whilst the gilded Zipa threw into the lake all the -gold and all the emeralds; then his companions would follow his example. -When all the gold and emeralds on the raft had been cast into the lake, -the people ashore also made their offerings of gold. Thus, after six -years’ fasting, the Zipa was (so to put it) anointed or qualified for -kingship. On reaching the land the period of abstinence came to an end, -and now that the Zipa was full-fledged Crown Prince, or Zipa (if his -predecessor should have chanced to die), his first act was to get -gloriously drunk. - -From the early days of the conquest, efforts were made to drain the five -lakes, from which numerous samples of gold idols and roughly-worked gold -have been recovered. Even recently a company was formed in England for -that purpose. The tradition in this case being so universal, it seems -rational to assume that vast treasures must lie at the bottom of these -lakes, because the Chibchas were an ancient race, and their ceremonies -must have been repeated during centuries. The country also is rich in -emeralds and in gold—hence the belief in the large amount of treasure to -be obtained from those lakes whose waters look so placid. - -Some years ago in Bogotá an enthusiast, who sought to form a company for -the purpose of draining one of the lakes, carried about with him a few -samples of gold, idols and suchlike, which, so he said, had been brought -to light by a man whom he named, a good diver, who plunged five times -into the lake, and after each plunge brought up one of the specimens -exhibited. He argued thus: The bottom of the lake must be practically -studded with gold, since Mr. X. succeeded each time. There are millions -in the lake, and all that is needed is a little money to drain it. - -The argument seemed so strong, and the gold gleamed so bright in his -hands, that he obtained numerous subscribers, until he had the -misfortune to come across one of those sceptics impervious to reason, -who, after listening to him, replied: ‘Yes, I have no doubt that there -must be millions in the lake, since X. at each plunge brought out a bit -of gold like those you show me; but what I cannot for the life of me -understand is why he is not still plunging—it seems so easy!’ The tale -went round the town, and the lake was not drained, nor has it been up to -the present. - -This gilding of the man is the germ of the legend of El Dorado, which -has cost so much blood, and in search of which so many thousands and -thousands of men have wandered during past centuries in all possible -directions on their bootless quest. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - -Returning to the lake, and now gathering the information furnished by -geology, whose silent annals are so carefully and truthfully recorded -(being as they are beyond reach of man’s little contentions and petty -adjustments), we find that the original lake covered an area of about -seventy-five square miles, and attained great depths. Its placid waters, -beating possibly for centuries against the environing rocks, have left -their marks, from which it may be seen that in some places the depth was -120 feet, and in others 180. - -We cannot fix the date of the break in the mountains which allowed the -drain to occur. So far man has not succeeded in grasping with invariable -accuracy the chronology of the admirable geological archives to which we -have referred, and in matters of this kind a discrepancy of a few -hundred years more or less is accepted as a trifle scarcely worth -mentioning. And possibly this may be right. For man’s passage through -life is so short that his conception of time cannot be applied to -Nature, whose evolutions, though apparently protracted and very slow to -see, in truth are sure to develop themselves harmoniously in every way, -as to time inclusive. - -But no matter how far back the draining of the great lake may have taken -place, it had left its memory and impression, not only on the mountains -and the rocks, but also in the minds of men. The legend ran thus: At one -time there came among the Chibchas a man differing in aspect from the -inhabitants of the plateau, a man from the East, the land where the sun -rises, and from the low plains where the mighty rivers speed to the -ocean. He had taught them the arts of peace, the cultivation of the -soil, the division of time; he had established their laws, the precepts -by which their life was to be guided, their form of government; in one -word, he had been their apostle and legislator. His name was Bochica or -Zuhe. He resembled in aspect the Europeans who invaded the country under -Quesada. - -It is asserted by a pious Spanish Bishop, who in the middle of the -seventeenth century wrote the history of the discovery and conquest of -the Chibcha kingdom, that the said Bochica was none other than the -Apostle St. Bartholomew, as to whose final work and preachings there is -(not to overstate the case) some obscurity. The good old Bishop states -that, as the Christian faith, according to the Divine decree, was to be -preached in every corner of the earth, it must have also been preached -amongst the Chibchas, and that, as nothing was known with certainty -about the final whereabouts of the Apostle Bartholomew, and he was not -unlike the description made of Bochica by the Chibchas (which, -by-the-by, was such that it might have fitted any white man with a long -blonde beard), it is evident that the saint must have visited those -Andine regions. Furthermore, he adds, there is a stone on one of the -mountains, situated between the plateau of Bogotá and the eastern -plains, which bears the footprints of the saint. This, to many people, -is decisive, and I, for my part, am not going to gainsay it, since it -serves two important ends. It explains the saint’s whereabouts in a most -creditable and appropriate fashion, and it puts a definite end to all -doubts concerning Bochica’s identity. We cannot be too grateful to those -who thus afford pleasant explanations of matters which would otherwise -be intricate and difficult, perhaps even impossible, of solution. - -The legend went on to say that the god of the Chibchas (Chibchacum), -becoming irate at their excesses and vices, flooded the plain where they -lived, by turning into it several neighbouring rivers. The inhabitants, -or such of them as were not drowned, took refuge on the neighbouring -mountain-tops, where, animated by that fervour and love of the Deity -which takes possession of every true believer when he finds himself -thoroughly cornered, they prayed abundantly to the Bochica, whose -precepts they had utterly forgotten. He, of course, took pity on them, -and, appearing amidst them on the mountain-top one afternoon in all the -glory of the setting sun, which covered him as with a sort of royal -mantle, he dashed his golden sceptre against the mighty granite wall of -the nearest mountain, which opened at the blow into the gap through -which the waters poured, draining the lake, and leaving as a memorial of -his power and his love for his chosen people those waterfalls whose -thunder goes up like a perennial hymn to heaven high above the trees -that crown the mountain-tops, and whose sprays are as incense for ever, -wreathing on high at the foot of a stupendous altar. - -The cataract takes two leaps, first striking a protruding ledge at a -distance of about 75 feet from the starting-point, a sort of -spring-board from which the other mighty leap is taken. Close to the -shore, at a distance of about 6 feet, on the very brim of the abyss, -there is a rock about 10 feet square, which, when the waters are low, -breaks the river, and appears like a sinking island in the mass of -foaming waters. The rock is slippery, being covered with moss, which the -waters and the mists keep constantly wet. Bolivar, the soldier to whose -tenacity and genius Colombia and four other South American republics owe -their political independence, once visited the cataracts, and stood on -the very edge of the abyss; glancing fitfully at the small round island -of stone that stood in the very centre of the waters, fascinated by the -danger, he jumped, booted and spurred as he was, upon the stone, thus -standing in the very vortex of the boiling current. After remaining -there for a few minutes he jumped back. The tale is interesting, for few -men indeed have the courage and nerve required, once upon the rock, not -to fall from it and disappear in a shroud fit for any man, however -great. - -After the little scene of the foundation of Bogotá, in what later on -became the public square of the city, Quesada devoted himself to -establishing a government. I cannot help thinking that challenges like -that which he flung down for the purpose of establishing the right of -property are, to say the least, peculiar. True it is that no one -contradicted, and, according to the old proverb, silence gives consent. -A comfortable little tag this, especially when you can gag the other -side! And a most serviceable maxim to burglars, conquerors, and, in -fact, all such as practise the art of invading somebody else’s premises, -and taking violent possession of the premises and all that may be found -on them. What I cannot for the life of me understand is, how it is that, -the process being identical in essence, so many worthy men and so many -worthy nations punish the misunderstood burglar, and bestow honours, -praise, and, so far as it lies in their power, glory, upon the -conqueror. It seems a pity that the gentle moralists who act in this -puzzling fashion have not found time to indicate the point, in the -process of acquiring somebody else’s property by violence and bloodshed, -when the vastness of the undertaking transfigures crime into virtue. The -average man would hold it for a boon if those competent to do it were to -fix the limit, just as in chemistry a freezing or a boiling point is -marked by a certain number of degrees of heat. What a blessing it would -be for the rest of us poor mortals, who find ourselves beset by many -doubts, and who through ignorance are prone to fall into grave errors! -but as these hopes are certainly beyond fulfilment, and are possibly out -of place, it is better to drop them. - -Quesada, after vanquishing the Chibchas and becoming lord of the land, -did not have it all his own way. The fame of El Dorado existed all over -the continent. Though peopled by numerous tribes, mostly hostile to each -other, some knowledge of the power of the Chibcha Empire, covering over -5,000 square miles and including a population estimated at over a -million and a half of inhabitants, had in the course of centuries slowly -permeated to very remote parts of what is now known as South America. In -the land of Quito, situated below the equator, it is said that the -conquerors who had invaded it heard from an Indian of the wonderful El -Dorado. The Indian’s tale must have been enhanced with all the charms -invented by a vivid imagination, playing safely at a distance. This set -many of the conquerors on the road to Bogotá. Don Sebastian de -Belalcázar, who had entered the continent by the Pacific, led his -troops—not over 200 in number at the end of the journey—to the Bogotá -plateau, thus making a march of several hundred leagues across forest -and mountains, attracted by the renown of the land of El Dorado. Another -expedition which had entered the continent by the north-east coast of -the Atlantic, and had wandered along the Orinoco Valley for over two -years, eventually found itself near the plateau, and entered it, so -that, shortly after his arrival into the country and his conquest of it, -Quesada found himself confronted with two powerful rivals. For the -moment there was great danger that the conquerors might come to blows -amongst themselves, but Quesada’s political ability matched his military -gifts, and arrangements were soon made by which the three expeditions -were merged into one, gold and emeralds distributed amongst the -soldiers, numerous offices created, taxes established, the Indians and -their belongings distributed amongst the Christian conquerors, and the -reign of civilization established to the greater glory of God, and that -of his beloved monarch, the King of all the Spains. - -One detail deserves mention as an instance of tenacious though -unpretending heroism. The men who had come along the Orinoco had -wandered for many weary months, and at times had been on the point of -starvation, so that all their leather equipment had been devoured. With -the expedition marched a friar who carried with him a fine Spanish cock -and four hens. During that long journey, which cost the lives of so many -men, the murderous attempts made against this feathered family were past -counting; yet the useful birds were saved, and formed the basis of an -innumerable progeny in the land of Colombia. The incident seems trivial, -but, if well weighed, the friar’s sustained effort against others, and -doubtless against himself, to save the precious germ, deserves the -highest praise. - -After months of hunger, when the plenty found on the plateau had -restored equanimity to the hearts of the conquerors, they must have felt -how much they owed to the good friar, who, even if his sermons—about -which I know nothing—may not have been of the best, had left behind him -the hens to lay the egg so dear to civilized man, and the chanticleer to -sing the praises of the Almighty and to remind everyone in this instance -of the humble beings who serve Him and their fellow-creatures in such a -practical way. - -It is not at all strange that the Spanish conquerors swallowed the -wonderful tales of incalculable treasure to be found in different parts -of the continent which they had just discovered. Columbus himself, in -his second voyage, landed at Veraguas on the mainland, and reaped a most -bountiful harvest of gold. Never before in the history of Spanish wars -had such booty fallen to the lot of the common soldier as in that -instance. Other expeditions in various parts of the continent were -equally fortunate, so that they supported the belief that gold was -inexhaustible. The ostensible object of the conquest was the conversion -of the infidels to the true faith; officially the Government of the -Metropolis proclaimed first and foremost its intense desire to save the -souls of so many million men who groped in the darkness of heathenism. -Doubtless many of the conquerors really thought that they were doing the -work of God, but the great majority of them were certainly moved by more -worldly ends and attractions. - -The Indians, on their side, not only in Colombia but everywhere else, -received the Spaniards in a friendly and hospitable way. Some warlike -tribes there were, but it does not appear that their hostilities against -the Spaniards began before these had shown their cruel greed and -insatiable thirst for gold. The precious metals and jewels that had been -accumulated amongst the tribes in the course of many generations were -given freely to the Spaniards, who, believing that greater treasures -were kept back from them, did not hesitate to recur to the cruellest -methods of extortion, burning, pillaging, killing, and destroying -everything in their way. - -After a struggle which did not last long, the Indians—even those of -riper civilization and better organized—were completely subdued, and the -sway of the Spaniard established all over the land, whose former lords -became the slaves of the conquerors. - -Those who know the Indian of to-day in certain parts of the South -American continent can hardly understand how at one time that same race -possessed the qualities indispensable to the civilization which it had -attained at the time of the Spanish conquest. Boiling the whole thing -down to hard facts, we find that the Spaniards discovered a land wherein -they found a people with civilization inferior to that of the old world; -that this people, divided and subdivided in many tribes, received the -conquerors hospitably, treated them generously, and in their ignorance -considered them as superior beings; that they gave over to the Spaniards -all the gold and treasures which the latter coveted, and that it would -have been feasible for those superior beings to establish the -civilization and the religion which they longed to propagate amongst the -infidels, by methods worthy of the Christian faith which they professed. -Instead of this, violence and bloodshed were the only methods employed, -not to civilize, but to despoil the natives; and the right of force, -brutal and sanguinary, was the law of the land. To this and its -accompaniments the poets lifted up pæans of praise, the Church gave its -blessing, history its acceptance, and, barring a handful of the just, no -one gave a thought to the oppressed and helpless Indians whose sole -crime was they were weaker than their aggressors. - -Let us be thankful for what we have. Quintana, the great Spanish lyrical -poet, pondering on these misdeeds and crimes, exclaims that they were -crimes of the epoch, not of Spain. Fortunately it is, as we like to -think, our privilege to live in an epoch when such things are -impossible, when the mere thirst for gold, or its equivalent, cannot -impel powerful nations to forget right and justice and to proclaim -hypocritically that in so doing they are fulfilling the law of Him who -said, ‘Love ye one another,’ and proclaimed charity amongst men as the -supreme rule of life. Nowadays such wrongs as those perpetrated by the -Spanish conquerors could not happen. Wars we have, and violence and -destruction, and malcontents complain of them, saying that the same old -burglarious spirit of brutal greed is the real cause of those wars; but -those malcontents should not be (and, in fact, are not) listened to. I -myself do not understand or pretend to explain where the justice of many -wars comes in, but certainly they must be waged for good and honest -ends, because the great and the powerful say that the ends are good and -honest, that civilization and Christianity are served thereby; and it -must be so since they say it, for they, like Brutus, are ‘honourable -men.’ Let us be thankful, then, that we live in an age of justice and -universal fairness amongst men! - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - -But let us go back to our subject. - -All this time we journeyed on. The stars had kept their watch above our -heads, and the moon, as if passing in review the various quarters of -heaven, had been moving from west to east, and was very high on the -horizon. We were chilled through after the night’s ride, longing to -arrive at some wayside inn or _venta_ where we might get something warm. -The dawn was heralded in the far east by a broad streak of light, which -grew rapidly, covering that side of the horizon like a fan, and soon -bursting into glorious daylight. In equatorial regions there is hardly -any dawn or twilight; in those latitudes there is no prelude of -semi-obscurity that either waxes into day or wanes slowly into the dark, -like the note of the lute, falling into silence so faintly and softly -that none can tell the exact moment when it dies. At evening the sun -sinks to the verge of the horizon, and disappears like a luminous orb -dropped into empty space, and darkness sets in almost immediately. In -the mountainous lands his last rays crown the highest peaks with a halo -of glory, when darkness has settled over the valleys and mountain -flanks. The moment the sun sets the stars assert their empire, and they -are more numerous to the eye than anywhere else in the world. As for the -moon, I have already spoken of its brilliancy. Another phenomenon -connected with it is worthy of notice in our special case. During the -various months of the trip which I am now describing, it seems to me -that we had a full moon every night. I know that this is not quite in -accordance with the established rules, or what in modern parlance is -sometimes called the schedule of time for lunar service, but I am -narrating my impressions, and, according to them, such is the fact. I -should suggest that, as everything in Spanish lands is more or less -topsy-turvy at times, the rules applicable to the moon in well-regulated -countries do not hold good there, but I remember just in time that these -irregularities apply solely to things human that happen ‘tiles -downwards,’ as the Spaniards say, and cannot, therefore, affect the -phenomena of Nature. As an explanation must be found for my permanent -moon, an acceptable compromise would be that the ordinary moon did duty -on its appointed nights, leaving the others—during which we wandered -over mountain, through valley and forest, and on the waters of the -silent rivers—to be illuminated for our own special benefit by some -deputy moon, for whose services we were then, and still are, most -grateful. - -As to the topsy-turviness of things Spanish and Spanish-American, the -story is told that Santiago, the patron saint of Spain, being admitted -into the presence of God, asked and obtained for the land of Spain and -for its people all sorts of blessings: marvellous fertility for the -soil, natural wealth of all kinds in the mountains and the forests, -abundance of fish in the rivers and of birds in the air; courage, -sobriety, and all the manly virtues for men; beauty, grace, loveliness, -for the women. All this was granted, but, on the point of leaving, the -saint, it is said, asked from God that he would also grant Spain a good -government. The request was denied, as then, it is said, the Lord -remarked, the angels would abandon heaven and flock to Spain. The story -has lost none of its point even at the present day. - -With the morning we reached the longed-for _venta_, a square, -thatch-roofed hut, which stood by the roadside quite close to the -mountain-range which we had reached after crossing the whole breadth of -the plateau. Outside stood several pack-horses and mules, tied to the -columns and waiting for their loads. Under the roof the space was -divided into three rooms, one of them provided with a counter and -shelves running along the sides of the walls, whereon bottles of various -sizes and contents were exhibited, and where _chicha_, the national -drink, was served to thirsty travellers. The middle room was what might -be called the sitting, waiting, sleeping, and dining room all in one, -and the other was the kitchen. The fire was built on the ground, several -logs burning brightly in the open air, filling the room with smoke and -heat, On three stones—the traditional stones of the first hearth—a -saucepan was seen in full boil. In the parlour we saw several _peones_, -or labourers, from the highlands on their way to the coffee estates to -help in the harvest. Behind the counter, the _ventera_, barmaid and -landlady all in one, buxom and wreathed in smiles, was already filling -either the _totuma_, a large bowl cut from a gourd, containing about a -quart of _chicha_, or the small glass of native whisky (_aguardiente_). - -We jumped from our horses and entered the so-called sitting-room, -envying the men who slept deep and strong as virtue on the bare ground. -In a few minutes Fermin had brought from our saddle-bags the copper -kettle used for making chocolate, and the paste for the preparation of -that delicious drink. Within twenty minutes of our arrival we had before -us the steaming cups of chocolate which had been boiled three times, in -accordance with the orthodox principle which lays it down that this must -be done if it is to be rightly done; it was well beaten and covered with -that foam peculiar to chocolate brewed in hot water, which looks at you -with its thousand eyes or bubbles that burst as the liquor is imbibed. -Never was a cup of chocolate more welcome. The night seemed to have been -interminable now that it lay behind. We would fain have stretched -ourselves on the ground with the labourers, but to reach our destination -that day it was necessary to lose no time; so after an hour’s rest, -during which our horses had had their _pienso_ of fodder, we started -again, now over more broken country, leaving the plain behind us, -climbing and descending the road which was still available for carts and -wheeled vehicles of all sorts. - -And thus we advanced, seeing the sunrise darting its slanting rays, -which were quite pleasant to feel in the early morning, until they -became perpendicular, hot, and almost unbearable in the dusty road. - -The horses, after the long journey, slackened their pace, and we looked -upon surrounding Nature with weary eyes and that emptiness of feeling in -the brain, that consciousness of a void somewhere, which always follow -nights passed absolutely without sleep. - -Towards four in the afternoon, after seventeen hours’ steady ride, -interrupted only by the short stay at the roadside _venta_, we reached -the _hacienda_ of Gambita, where one of our companions, Raoul, who had -started ahead to prepare everything for the longer journey, was waiting -for us. He came up quite briskly along the road, joyful at our arrival, -full of spirits, and most anxious that the journey should be continued. -He might well feel thus, as he had not passed a sleepless night on -horseback like a knight-errant over field and moor. The desire for sleep -and rest was overpowering—all else lacked interest for us; so that, -alighting from our horses, we walked into the house, and, finding -convenient sofas, stretched ourselves and slept. Like Dante after -listening to the sorrowful tale of Francesca, we fell as a dead body -falls, which goes to prove that identical effects may arise from totally -different causes. Towards ten at night Raoul waked us. The supper -waiting for us was quickly despatched, and our mules were saddled and -ready. - -As I have said before, mules are far preferable to horses when -travelling on the mountain-paths, which are called roads in the Andes. -The old Shakespearian query, ‘What’s in a name?’ and the answer that a -rose would smell as sweet even if called by another name, demonstrates -the elasticity of words. To the average Englishman a road is a -well-defined means of communication with or without rails, but offering -all sorts of advantages for comfortable locomotion. Roads in the Andes -at times are such as to invite the formation of legends. It is said that -an American diplomatist, visiting a South American republic, alighted -from the river steamer which had borne him far inland by the respective -river, and was shown the mountain-road which he had to follow to reach -the capital—a yellowish or reddish streak like a gash in the mountain, -lying on its side like a rope carelessly thrown from the summit towards -the base, following the sinuosities of the ground—and straightway -remarked, ‘I’m off home; this road is only fit for birds.’ - -On such roads the mule is the best friend of man. Had Richard III. found -himself in the plight we all know of in some such locality, the generous -offer of bartering his kingdom (which, by-the-by, at that moment was a -minus quantity to him) would have made for a mule instead of for a -horse, and although the phrase—‘A mule! a mule! my kingdom for a -mule!’—sounds comical (for these are questions of habit), probably the -stock phrase would bring down the house with laughter. If the camel is -called the ship of the desert, the mule deserves the title of the -balloon of the mountains. - -A friend of mine, knowing of my intended trip, had sent me his favourite -mule, and well did the animal deserve the praises that its owner -bestowed upon it; patient, sure-footed, collected, it carried me by -precipice, ravine, ascended paths only fit for ants as lightly and -carefully as if no weight were on its back. At the mud ditches which -intersected the roads, and at times reached the proportions of miniature -lakes, often treacherously deep, it would halt, looking at the waters -with its big, ball-shaped, moist eyes, and no hint of mine, whether -given with spur or whip, could disturb its equanimity. At the right -moment, heedless of my meddling, it would jump or ford or slide as -circumstances required. At the beginning of our companionship, during -those long days, I began by endeavouring to have a mind of my own as to -the part of the road to be selected. I soon saw that my efforts were -useless, for that wisdom of the mule which men call stubbornness was -invincible. And, frankly, it was lucky that I soon gained this -conviction, as certainly the mule knew far better than I what should be -done. - -How strange all this sounds in this land of railroads, automobiles, -omnibuses, and wheeled conveyances of every sort! yet there is more -genuine travelling, more real travelling, in going from one place to -another on the back of a mule than in being cooped for hours or days in -a railway compartment whirled along at lightning speed. What does one -learn about the country, what does one see of its beauty or of its -peculiarities, in this latter case? It may be transportation, it may be -locomotion, but it is not travelling. - -If I were a man of ample means, I would certainly endow that splendid -beast which carried me during so many days, or provide a pension for it, -so that it might spend the remainder of its life in the enjoyment of -meadows ever green, luscious with rich grass and sweet with the waters -of rippling streams. - -From Gambita on, our cavalcade had something of the aspect of a caravan. -There were Alex, Raoul, and myself, besides our servant Fermin, four -muleteers, and ten or twelve mules laden with our luggage, tents, -provisions, arms, and so forth. This mob of travellers was so unusual -that the simple folks in the villages through which we passed said that -his lordship the Archbishop was no doubt on a tour. On hearing this, and -finding that the people began to kneel by the roadside, rather than -shatter their illusion, I—knowing that I was the most episcopal-looking -of our crowd—decided to give my blessing, which I did with due unction -to the kneeling maidens and matrons along the roadside. - -From Gambita we shaped our course eastward. It was our intention to -reach the Atlantic through the Orinoco River. We were seeking one of the -many affluents of the river Meta, which is itself one of the largest -tributaries of the Orinoco. The affluents of the Meta start on the -eastern slope of the mountains which form the plateau of Bogotá. - -After three days’ ride from Gambita, we reached the estate of a friend -near the town of Miraflores, where we had to prepare ourselves for the -last stage of the land journey which would carry us through the dense -forests bordering the lower eastern slope of the Cordilleras, and -constituting a sort of fringe around the endless plains that extend for -thousands of miles from the foot of the Cordilleras to the ocean. Across -these plains flow the mighty rivers, their numerous affluents, and the -countless _caños_, or natural canals connecting the rivers amongst -themselves, and thus forming a perfect network of natural waterways. - -At Miraflores we stopped for twenty-four hours to recruit our forces and -prepare everything, not only for the last stage of the land journey, but -for the long canoe voyage that lay before us. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - -From Miraflores on, the descent was continuous. Before penetrating into -the forest, we skirted the mountain for a good many miles. The road, -barely 4 or 5 feet in width, had been cut out of the rock, like the -cornice of a temple. On the one side we had the bluff of the mountain, -and on the other a precipice of hundreds, and even thousands, of feet in -depth. The inclination at times was so steep that at a distance the line -of the road on the mountain seemed almost vertical, and the file of -mules with riders or with loads on their backs appeared like so many -flies on a wall. - -Up to the time that we reached Miraflores, we had followed what in -Colombia are called, according to the loyal tradition still living on -the lips, if not in the hearts, of the people, ‘royal roads,’ or -_caminos reales_. These royal roads are paths along the mountain slopes, -said to follow the old Indian trails, and the Indians had a peculiar way -of selecting their paths or trails. They seem to have been impervious to -fatigue, and Franklin’s adage, now accepted the world over, that time is -money, did not obtain with them, for they had no money and abundant -time. When an Indian wanted to cross a range of mountains, instead of -selecting the lowest summit, he fixed his eye on the highest peak, and -over it would wend his way. The explanation given is that thus he -accomplished two ends—crossing the range and placing himself in a -position to see the widest possible horizon. Be that as it may, the -Spaniards who settled in the colonies accepted the precedent, and the -result is a most wearisome and unpleasant one in the present day. - -But if as far as Miraflores we had the so-called ‘royal roads,’ from -thence on in an easterly direction towards the plain we lacked even -these apologies for roads. From Miraflores towards the _llanos_, along -the slope of the Cordilleras, extends an intricate forest in its -primeval state. We had to fight our way through the under-brush amongst -the trunks of the huge trees, and at times really battling for each foot -that we advanced. However, our guides, who were expert -cattle-drivers—large quantities of cattle being driven through these -forests from the plains to the uplands—knew the forest so well that the -obstacles were reduced to their minimum. - -We rode in Indian file, the chief of the guides ahead of the line -cutting with his cutlass, or _machete_, the branches and overhanging -boughs, thorns, reeds, creepers, and the like, that might strike us in -the face as we rode under them. Next to him followed two _peones_, who -cleared the ground, if necessary, from fallen branches or stones against -which our mules might stumble. At first this slow mode of travel was -most interesting. The light scarcely filtered through the dense mass of -leaves, so that we felt as if we stood constantly behind some cathedral -stained-glass window. The air was full of the peculiar fragrance of -tropical flowers and plants; the orchids swung high above our heads like -lamps from the vaults of a temple, and the huge trunks of the trees, -covered with creepers studded with multi-coloured flowers, appeared like -the festooned columns of a temple on a feast-day. - -However, there were certain drawbacks: the ground was so wet and spongy -that the feet of the animals sank into it, and progress was accordingly -very slow. Now and then we would come to a halt, owing to a huge boulder -of rock or large trunk of a tree barring the passage absolutely. It was -then necessary for the guides to seek the best way of overcoming the -obstacle. Frequently we had to alight from our mules, as it was -dangerous to ride them in many places. The guides and the muleteers -walked on the uneven ground—now stony, and now slippery—with the agility -of deer, sure-footed and unconscious of the difficulty. I had to invent -a means of advancing: I placed myself between two of the guides, hooking -one arm to a guide’s on each side, and thus, though frequently -stumbling, I never fell, but it may be readily understood that this mode -of progression was neither comfortable nor rapid. - -Another inconvenience was found in the thorny bushes, prickly plants, -and trees which it was dangerous to approach, such as the _palo_ -_santo_, so called because it is frequented by a kind of ant of that -name, whose bite is most painful and induces a slight fever. - -On the second day the guide who was ahead fired his gun, and, on our -asking him for the cause, said: - -‘Only a rattle-snake!’ - -As a matter of fact, he had killed a large specimen, said to be seven -years old, as shown by the seven rattles that were taken from its tail. -These things did not help to make the ride through the intricate forest -more pleasant. We longed to see the open sky, which we could only -discern through the veil or network of leaves and branches, and, by a -phenomenon of sympathy between the lungs and the eyes, it seemed to us -that we lacked air to breathe. Now and then we would come to a clearing, -but we soon plunged again into the thick of it, and felt like wanderers -gone astray in an interminable labyrinth or maze of tall trees, moist -foliage, and tepid atmosphere. - -The guides told us from the start that it would take from four to five -days to reach the end of the forest. On the fifth day, towards noon, -almost suddenly we came upon the open plain. Our hearts leaped for very -joy, and we hailed the vast green motionless solitude, that extended far -into the horizon before our eyes like a frozen sea, with a shout of joy. -The trees of the forest stood as in battle-line in front of the endless -plain; the sun darted its rays, which shimmered in the countless -ribbons, some broader than others, of the silver streams sluggishly -dragging their waves along the bosom of the unending prairie. Copses of -_moriches_, an exceptionally graceful species of palm, dotted the plains -in all directions. They seemed as though planted by the hand of man to -hide behind them a castle, or some old feudal structure, which our -imagination reared complete, full-fledged, with its walls, its roof, its -turrets, and its legends. The site looked as if prepared for a large -city about to be built, and waiting only for the arrival of its -architects and inhabitants, even as the white page tarries for him that -is to inscribe upon it a living and immortal thought. - -To continue our journey on the _llanos_, the assistance of the guides -was even more necessary than in the thick of the forest. To attempt -travelling on the _llanos_ without expert guides would be like seeking -to cross the sea without a compass. - -Once in the _llanos_, we came within a few hours to the hamlet of San -Pedro, a cattle-trading station consisting of a few thatch-roofed -houses, almost deserted except during the various weeks of the year -specially fixed for traders and breeders to meet. Here we were at last -at the end of the first stage of our journey. It was New Year’s Day. -Behind us lay the maze of forest, the meandering trails and paths, the -sheer mountains, the cold fertile plateau, the native city, and the dead -year. Before us we had the unlimited plain, the wandering rivers, and -there, beyond all, like a promise, tossing, heaving, roaring, the sea, -vast, immeasurable, the open roadway to the shores of other lands, some -of them free, some of them perhaps hospitable, all girdled by the -ever-beating waves which now die moaning on the sands, now dash their -fury into foam on the rocks of the shore. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - -Before parting from our friends the mules, it may not be amiss to speak -of the equipment for man and beast which obtains in Colombian Andine -regions. The saddle used—sometimes native, sometimes European—offers -nothing striking in its composition, only that it is provided with a -crupper which must be very strong—strong as a braced strap—since in the -steep ascents or descents the girth alone would be insufficient. The men -wear leggings or _zamorros_, which, in fact, are rather seatless -trousers than leggings, 2 feet wide, held together by a strap across the -loins, the outside consisting of tanned hide with the hair on it, and -the inside of soft leather. They have the advantage of being very easily -put on and slipped off when the rider alights. The stirrups are a large -shoe wherein the whole foot is encased, made of copper or brass. At -first those unfamiliar with the roads find them awkward, bulky, and -heavy, but one soon learns that they are an indispensable protection, a -sort of armour or shield against the stones, trees, and sundry other -obstacles which the rider’s foot is bound to strike. The _poncho_, which -is a rectangular piece of woven cotton cloth about 5 to 6 feet long by 3 -to 3½ feet broad, with a slit in the centre, is worn by all riders, and -a similar piece of india-rubber cloth, only somewhat larger, is carried -strapped to the back of the saddle to be used when rain comes on. The -real native accoutrement, in which the saddle differs, having a pommel -and being high-seated in the back, is not complete without the lasso, -made of twisted raw hide, kept soft and pliable by the frequent use of -tallow, which is rubbed into it. The expert herdsman can throw the lasso -a long distance, either across the neck of the horses or right over the -horns of the cattle; their aim is unerring. They fasten the lasso to the -pommel of the saddle, and turn their horses backwards so that they may -better withstand the pull of the lassoed animal. Spurs in Colombia are -frequently worn, especially when you ride somebody else’s hired mule or -horse. The spurs are more formidable in appearance than harmful in -reality; the rollocks, instead of being small with little pinlike pricks -as in Europe, are huge in size, about 3 inches in diameter, and each -prick about 1½ inches; they make a great rattle on the slightest -provocation, but are less painful to the animal than the little European -spurs. Apropos of this, I remember the case of an individual who, -finding the Colombian spurs too heavy, only wore one, arguing that if he -managed to make one side of his mule get along, the other side would be -sure to follow, and hence only one spur was needed. - -On arriving at the wayside _venta_, or inn—and Heaven only knows how -elastic a man’s conscience must be to bestow the name of inn upon many -of these _ventas_—the first care of an experienced traveller is to see -to the welfare of his mules and horses. If available, Indian corn, brown -sugar of the species called _panela_, which is uncrystallized solidified -molasses, and the best grass that can be got in the neighbourhood, are -given to the animals. If there happens to be an enclosure, the mules and -horses are let loose in it, so that they may rest more comfortably; but -these enclosures are very frequently a delusion and a snare, as -inexperienced travellers find when, on rising early in the morning the -next day, they are told that the animals have jumped over the fence or -broken through, or in some other way disappeared, whereupon the -muleteers, with the boys and men available in the locality pressed into -the service for the occasion, scour the mountains and the neighbouring -forests in search of the missing animals, the search lasting at times -four and five hours, during which the traveller frets, foams, and -possibly, if he be quite natural and unspoiled by convention, swears. - -But notwithstanding these drawbacks, there is a special charm about this -mode of travelling. In the morning about four the traveller arises from -his not too soft couch. The first breakfast is at once prepared, and -whilst it is being cooked the _mañanas_, or morning greeting, is -indulged in, consisting of a little whisky, brandy, _aguardiente_, rum, -or whatever spirits happen to be available. The hour, even in the hot -lands, is cool. The stars still shine brightly in the heavens, and, were -it not for the testimony of one’s watch, one would believe one’s self -still in the middle of the night. The mules are brought forward, given -their morning rations, the luggage is strapped on the ‘cargo’ mules, as -they are called, and the others are saddled, and if all goes well, -towards five or half-past, the journey begins. - -There is a characteristic odour in the temperate and low lands of the -tropics at that special hour of morning, and the dawn is announced by a -hum in the ear, which, whilst it is still dark, is not of birds, but of -the thousand insects that inhabit the forest. Finally, when the sun -bursts forth in all his glory, a hymn seems to start in all directions, -and the mountains vibrate with echoes of universal animation from the -grass and the bushes, the running streams, and the nests in the branches -of the trees laden with life. In the cool air of the morning the mind is -quite alert, and the climbing and descending, the fording of rivers, the -crossing of ravines and precipices, the slow ascent of the sun in the -horizon, the fresh stirring of the breeze in the leaves, the -reverberation of the light on the drops of fresh dew still hanging from -the boughs and dotting the many-coloured flowers—all these things induce -such a feeling of communion with Nature that one feels one’s self an -integral part of the large, immense, palpitating life that throbs in -every direction, and the conception of immortality seems to crystallize, -so to speak, in the mind of the traveller; but, of course, familiarity -breeds contempt, and things beautiful, though they are a joy for ever, -might tire Keats himself through repetition, so that at times travelling -in this wise often seems slow, and one longs for some other means of -locomotion. Yet I cannot help thinking with regret of the days when one -will ask for a ticket—railway, ‘tube,’ balloon, or whatever it may -be—from any place on earth to any other place. When that day arrives, -men will be transported more rapidly from one place to another, but the -real traveller will have disappeared, as the knight-errant disappeared, -as the gentleman is being driven out from the world in these days when -all things are bought and sold, and kindness and generosity are becoming -empty words or obsolete relics of a past that very few understand, and -fewer still care to imitate. - -On the very outskirts of the forest, within half an hour’s ride from the -long file of trees, we came upon a group of thatch-roofed structures -which form the so-called town or hamlet of San Pedro del Tua, a -meeting-place, as I have said before, for herdsmen and dealers, deserted -at the present season; the only persons who had remained were those -whose poverty—heavier than any anchor—had kept them on the spot away -from the Christmas and New Year’s festivities that were being celebrated -in all the towns and villages of the neighbouring region. Our first care -was to find a roof under which to pass the night. We inquired for the -man in power, namely, the _correjidor_, a sort of justice of the peace, -mayor, sheriff, all in one, an official to be found in hamlets or -villages like that which we had just reached. It was not hard to find -him, since there were only fifteen persons in the place. We had a letter -of introduction to him, which made things easier. He immediately took us -to the best house in the place, which happened to belong to him. He -asked us what good winds had wafted us thither, and whither we went. As -we did not care, until having felt our ground a little more, to state -frankly that we wanted to cross into the neighbouring republic of -Venezuela, one of us—the most audacious if not the best liar of the -lot—calmly stated that we had come to the _llanos_ for the purpose of -selecting and purchasing some land, as we intended to go into the -cattle-breeding business, and possibly into some agricultural pursuit or -other. The _correjidor_ said nothing, but an ironical smile seemed to -flit across his lips. When we had become more familiar with things and -customs in the plains, we understood why he had not replied, and the -cause of his almost imperceptible smile. To purchase land in the -_llanos_ would be tantamount to buying salt water in the midst of the -ocean! People ‘squat’ wherever they like in those endless plains that -belong to him who exploits them. The cattle, horses, sheep, are the -elements of value to which ownership is attached, but the grazing lands -belong to one and all, and as matters stand now, given the scarcity of -population and its slow increase, such will be the condition of affairs -for many a long year to come. - -Once inside the house that the _correjidor_ had placed at our disposal, -and feeling more at ease with him, we told him of our intention to go to -Venezuela, and asked for his assistance. His name was Leal, which means -loyal; its sound had in it the clink of a good omen, and later events -proved that he deserved it. He told us that our undertaking was by no -means an easy one, nor one that could be accomplished without the -assistance of expert and intelligent guides. He added that he knew the -various ways to penetrate from Colombia into Venezuela, and that if we -would accept his services he would accompany us. I need not state that -the offer was accepted with alacrity. - -In the short journey from the skirt of the forest to the hamlet of San -Pedro del Tua across the _llano_ itself, we had time to remark that its -aspect, once in contact with it, was quite different from the beautiful -velvety green waving in the sunlight, soft and thick, that we had seen -from a distance. The ground was covered with a coarse grass varying in -height and colour, we were told, according to the season of the year. A -great many small pathways seemed to cross it in all directions, formed -by the cropping of the grass and the animals that moved to and fro on -the plains. We crossed various _caños_, which are natural canals, -uniting the larger rivers. As we were at the beginning of the dry -season, these canals were low, and we forded them without any -difficulty, but in winter—that is to say, in the rainy season—they -attain the dimension of large rivers, and travelling in the _llanos_ on -horseback then becomes most difficult. We came frequently upon copses of -the _moriche_ palms already described. In the centre of these copses one -always finds a cool natural basin of water, which is preferred by the -natives as being the healthiest and the sweetest of the locality—_agua -de morichal_. There must be something in it, for the cattle also prefer -this water to that of the rivers and _caños_. - -To our inexperienced eye the _llanos_ bore no landmark which might serve -as a guide to our movements. After a copse of _moriche_ palms came -another one, and then another one, and no sooner was one _caño_ crossed -than another took its place, so that without guides it would have been -impossible for us to know whether we were moving in the right direction. - -Leal advised us to lose no time, as the journey we had before us was a -long one. Now that we were close to the beginning of our canoe journey -on the rivers, we at once set to counting the belongings we had brought -at such great expense and trouble from the high plateau of Bogotá, which -seemed ever so far away when with the mind’s eye we beheld it perched -like an eagle’s nest high up on the summit of those mountains that it -had taken us about eighteen days to descend. As every inch of ground -that we had left behind had been, so to say, felt by us, the distance -appeared enormous, and the old city and the plateau seemed more like the -remembrance of a dream than of a reality. We drew up our inventory, and -found that we were the happy possessors of about eight cases, 50 pounds -in weight each, containing preserved meats, vegetables, and food of all -kinds in boxes, jars, tins, and so forth. Next came about six large jugs -or demijohns of native fire-water, or _aguardiente_, a most useful and -indispensable beverage in those latitudes, and about half a ton of salt, -a most precious article in that region. We were going across the plains -where there are neither salt-water fountains nor salt-bearing rock -deposits, and we knew that as an article of barter, salt went far beyond -anything else that we might possess, hence the large quantity which we -carried. Our arsenal consisted of four fowling-pieces, six Remington and -two Spencer rifles, plenty of ammunition, cartridges, gunpowder, one -dozen cutlasses, or _machetes_, and four revolvers. We also had a box -with books, our trunks with clothing, rugs, mosquito-nets, waterproof -sheets, a medicine-chest, and two guitars of the native Colombian type; -but what rendered us most important and steady service during the whole -of that journey was a certain wicker basket, 1 yard long, ¾ of a yard -wide, and 10 inches in height, which contained a complete assortment of -cooking utensils and table-ware for six persons—plates, corkscrews, -can-openers, frying-pans, and all that one could wish to prepare as -sumptuous a meal as mortal man could desire in those vast solitudes. The -saucepans, six in number, fitted one inside of the other, nest-wise; -they were copper-bottomed, and proved of inestimable value. The tumblers -and cups were also nested—pewter ware with porcelain inside. Everything -was complete, compact, and so solid that, after the long journey with -its vicissitudes, the wicker basket and its contents, though looking -somewhat the worse for wear, were perfectly serviceable. - -Leal, a man of simple habits, who had never been in a town of more than -4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants, on looking at that display of superfluous -articles, argued that we were altogether too rich, and that our -movements would be greatly facilitated were we to dispense with, say, -two-thirds of what lay before him on the ground. We pleaded that since -the worst had been accomplished, namely, the transportation across land, -roads, and mountain trails, we might as well keep what we had, and only -abandon it when forced to do so. Leal nodded his head, as one who sees -that it is useless to argue, and nothing more was said on the subject. - -Everything was prepared on that New Year’s Day to start on the next day -for the neighbouring cattle-farm of Santa Rosa del Tua, situated on the -river Tua, one of the affluents of the Meta, which itself is one of the -most important tributaries of the mighty Orinoco. These arrangements and -decisions once arrived at, it was deemed prudent to celebrate our -arrival into the place, and the arrival on the scene of life of the New -Year, by a banquet worthy of the double occasion. - -A heifer was slaughtered. Leal brought upon the scene, in front of the -house where we were stopping, the whole side of the animal trimmed and -prepared for roasting; he had passed through it, skewer-wise, a long -thin pole of some special wood hard and difficult to burn. A huge -bonfire was lit on the ground, and Leal fixed the lower end of the -skewer quite close to the fire, holding the side of the heifer now right -over the flame, now at a certain distance, turning and twisting it with -consummate skill. The air was soon scented with that odour of roast meat -which so deliciously tickles the nostrils of him who has an empty -stomach. Looking at Leal doing the roasting, I realized -Brillat-Savarin’s dictum: _On devient cuisinier, on naît rotisseur_. -Leal, if not a born poet, was a born roaster. Soon the meat was ready; -our plates, forks, and knives not being sufficient for the crowd, we -preferred not to bring them forth. Large leaves, green, fresh, and -shiny, cut from the neighbouring banana and plantain trees, were laid on -the ground both as a cover and as dishes. Leal unsheathed from his belt -a long, thin shining knife as sharp as a razor, and with wonderful -dexterity cut the huge joint, separating the ribs, so that everyone -could have a bone with a large portion of hot, steaming, newly-broiled -meat. Bread was not forthcoming, but there was an abundance of baked and -roasted green plantains, crisp and mealy, which did service for the best -bread; at least, so we thought. As for meat, never in my life do I -remember having enjoyed such a delicious morsel: so the banquet -consisted of meat and roasted plantains _à discretion_. A bottle of rum -which belonged to our stock, and which I had forgotten in the inventory -given above, went round the guests of that primitive board, warming our -hearts into conviviality and good-humour. Finally came the big bowls of -coffee, prepared according to the local fashion, which deserves to be -described. The coffee is roasted and ground in the usual way, but these -operations are only carried out just before the liquor is brewed. In a -large saucepan cold water, sweetened to the taste with black sugar, is -placed over the fire, and the necessary amount of ground coffee is -thrown into it before it gets warm. The heating should not be too rapid; -when the first bubbles indicate that the boiling-point is about to be -reached, the saucepan is withdrawn from the fire, and a spoonful of cold -water dashed upon the surface of the hot liquor almost in ebullition. -This precipitates the roasted coffee to the bottom, and gives a most -delicious beverage, which, though not as strong as the coffee distilled -according to other methods, retains all the aroma and flavour of the -grain. The method is a very good one in localities where delicate -coffee-machines cannot be easily procured, and it is in truth nothing -more or less than the method of preparing Turkish coffee, with less fuss -than is required for the Oriental variety. - -We had soon grown, in that very first day of our encounter with him, to -like Leal and to wonder at his intimate knowledge of the plains, the -forests, and the rivers of that vast region. He was not a Colombian; he -had been born on the shores of the river Gaurico, one of the affluents -of the Orinoco. From boyhood he had thus come into daily contact with -the mighty rivers and the deep and mysterious forests that cover their -shores. His plan was that we should first follow the river Tua down to -the Meta. On arriving at this latter river, we should have to find -larger canoes, which would enable us to reach the Orinoco. Once on the -Orinoco we would arrive at the settlement called Urbana, where we were -sure to obtain larger craft in which to go as far as Caicara. Here we -might wait for the steamers that go to Ciudad Bolivar. As to the time -required for this journey, Leal said that, barring unforeseen obstacles, -fifty days might suffice for us to reach Ciudad Bolivar. The only -inhabited places which we would come across were first San Pedro del -Arrastradero, then Orocue, and finally San Rafael, the last Colombian -settlements where troops were stationed, and on inquiry Leal stated that -on the river Meta it was necessary to follow the only channel that -existed, so that it would be indispensable for us to touch at the -various towns he had named, as there was no lateral _caños_ by which we -might avoid them, should we want to do so, as was the case in other -parts of the plains, where one might either follow the main stream or -some _caño_ or tributary. If we wanted to take another river route, we -might, on reaching San Pedro del Arrastradero, walk a short distance of -about a mile to the _caño_ called Caracarate, which would take us to the -river Muco, an affluent of the Vichada, almost as large as the Meta -River, and flowing into the Orinoco. But, said Leal, if we follow the -Vichada instead of arriving on the Orinoco below the rapids, we shall -strike that river above the rapids, and these alone will entail more -trouble and difficulty and require more time than any other part of the -river. For the moment no decision was taken. The question was left open -to be solved as might be most convenient at an opportune moment. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - -Early next morning, January 2, we started from the village, and, after a -short ride across the plain, reached the river Tua, at the house of a -small cattle-ranch called Santa Rosa del Tua. - -The owner of the premises welcomed us most hospitably, and, to our joy, -placed at our disposal two small canoes. No others were to be found -there at the moment. However, they were large enough to carry us and our -belongings, and accordingly we made ready for an early start next day. - -The houses—or what serve for houses in the _llanos_—are built on the -most primitive architectural principles. Poles, varying in thickness and -in length, according to the proportions of the desired structure, are -sunk into the ground at convenient distances, following the lines either -of a perfect square or of a rectangle. Cross-beams are nailed or tied to -the vertical poles at the required height; in the latter case the -vertical poles are grooved, so as to give additional support. From the -cross-beams on either side other beams are thrown, slanting so as to -meet in the centre, thus forming the basis of the roof, which is again -covered with reeds, upon which are placed several layers of palm-leaves, -fastened by means of thin ropes to the slanting beams and poles; and -thus the roof is completed. This finishes the house for use during the -dry season. - -During the wet season the sides are covered in the same fashion as the -roof. The palm-leaf most used is that of the _moriche_, which abounds in -the _llanos_. - -When lying in the hammock during the dry season one feels the breath of -the breeze as it blows across the plain, and may see the stars twinkling -in the deep blue dome of heaven, like far-off tapers. The _llaneros_, or -inhabitants of the plains, prefer to sleep in the open air, even without -palm-leaf roofing above their heads. It is as though they felt -imprisoned indoors, and pined for the ampler ether. - -Here we had thus reached the last stage of our land journey. The real -voyage was about to begin. - -The reader who has followed me thus far will have gathered that there -were three of us in this expedition—Alex, Raoul, and myself. With us -came our servant Fermin, who adapted himself to the most urgent -requirements, being now muleteer, now valet, now cook. Leal had engaged -the services of several _peones_ to paddle the canoes when we reached -the Tua River; these numbered seventeen, so that, including Leal and -ourselves, we formed a group of twenty-two men. The canoes were so small -that we were packed like herrings, but, as it was impossible to obtain -others, we had to make the best of them. - -Raoul was a sportsman: more than once he had taken up arms against the -harmless ducks that swarm at certain seasons of the year in the lakes -studding the plateau of Bogotá. I had no personal knowledge of his -powers, but, with the modesty and truthfulness characteristic of all -hunters and fishermen, he carefully impressed upon us that he was a dead -shot, and that when a bird, hare, or any furred or feathered creature, -came within range of his gun its doom was certain. - -Immediately upon our arrival at the river Tua, the shores of which are -covered with a dense forest, he called our attention to the numberless -birds to be seen, and as soon as he could manage it he left us, -accompanied by one of the men, and was speedily lost to sight amongst -the trees. Shortly afterwards the report of his gun reached us with such -frequency that one might think he was wasting powder for mere love of -smoke. By-and-by he returned, bringing with him about sixteen different -birds of various sizes and kinds, sufficient to feed the whole -expedition for one or two days. He was on the point of starting on -another murderous excursion, when we remonstrated against the wanton -destruction of animal life. Leal quietly observed that if Raoul thus -continued wasting powder and shot he would soon exhaust our store of -those indispensable articles, the lack of which might entail most -serious consequences later on. On hearing this we held what might be -called a council of war, at which it was decided that no more birds or -game were to be shot than were absolutely indispensable. We were -influenced not so much by a feeling of humanity or love for the birds as -by the fact that a long journey lay before us, that the loss of a canoe, -the flooding of a river, or illness, or any accident that might befall -us, would detain us for much longer than we had bargained. Raoul -reluctantly listened to all these reasons, but, acknowledging their -force, agreed to comply with them. - -Our descent of the river Tua began next day. The waters were very -shallow, owing to the dry season, and, as our men could not use their -paddles, they punted the canoes down-stream. We were often detained by -palisades which obstructed the current. These were formed by trunks -uprooted from the shores by the river in its flood, and then jettisoned -in the bed of the stream. In the dry season they stood forth like small -islands, and gathered round them all the floating débris of the river. -These palisades, with which we met very often, gave us a deal of -trouble. We often had to jump out of the canoes and either drag or push -them, as they would stick to the sandy bottom, and punting failed to -make them budge. We took to this task cheerfully, and found it tolerable -sport, until one of our men was stung by a peculiar sort of fish, black -and round, called _raya_. This lies hidden in the sand, and, when -touched or trodden upon, stings, darting its harpoon into the ankle or -the calf, leaving its point in the wound, a most painful one, which -continues to smart for several days. The man, who was stung in our -presence, cried and moaned like a child, so intense was the pain. After -this we were decidedly chary of lending a hand in dragging or pushing -the canoes, and—I must confess it to our shame—we would wade booted to -the shore and wait till they had been got afloat again, rather than take -the chances of being stung in our turn. - -We had started at about six in the morning; towards five in the -afternoon Leal began to cast his eyes about in search of a nice, dry, -sandy beach upon which to pitch our camp for the night. So far we had -always found some house or hut to sleep in; now, for the first time, we -were faced by the necessity of camping in the open air without any roof -whatever above our heads. We experienced a peculiar sensation of -unwarranted fear—a dread arising, doubtless, from the force of habit in -the civilized man, naturally averse to imitating the birds and the -beasts, which sleep under God’s heaven and run all risks; but whatever -our feelings, we were forced to accept the inevitable. - -As soon as a satisfactory strip of beach was found, we jumped ashore. -The canoes were dragged halfway out of the water, and tied with stout -ropes to neighbouring trees to prevent their being carried away in case -of an unexpected flood—by no means an impossible contingency. The men -took out the mats upon which we were to sleep, and as there were swarms -of the mosquitoes, sand-flies, and numerous insects which make life a -burden in the early hours of the night on the shores of these rivers, -the mosquito-bars, made of cotton cloth, were rigged up over the mats. - -Fermin, who had been promoted to the rank of private cook for Alex, -Raoul, and myself, prepared our supper, making use of the saucepans and -sundry implements contained in our travelling basket. To prepare their -meals, the men used a huge iron pot, which was soon tilted over a large -fire. - -We were four days on the river Tua punting or paddling, according to the -depth of water. When we reached the river Meta, we had already arranged -the daily routine best suited to our requirements, and I might as well, -once for all, describe it. - -Our acting chief, Leal, ever watchful and alert, wakened us at about -three in the morning. Every man had his appointed task: two of them -prepared the indispensable coffee in the fashion of the land; others -folded up the mats, the mosquito-bars, and whatever else might have been -landed. Alex, Raoul, and I would in the meantime stand on the river -brink, whilst two of the men poured upon us small cataracts of water -drawn from the river in the _coyabras_ or _totumas_ cut from native -gourds, which form an indispensable part of the domestic arrangements in -the _llanos_. It would have been sheer madness to bathe in the river, -with its _rayas_, or water-snakes, or perhaps some shy, dissembling -alligator in quest of a tasty morsel. - -Sandy beaches are the best places for camping on the shores of tropical -rivers. They are dry, clean, soft, and perfectly free from snakes, -scorpions, tarantulas, and all such obnoxious creatures, which are more -likely to be found amongst the high luxuriant grass and the leafy trees. - -Between four and five, as soon as it was ready, every man drank a large -goblet of coffee and a small glass of aniseed _aguardiente_, which is -said to be a specific against malaria. The men’s faith in the virtue of -the distilled spirit was astounding; they never failed to take it, and -would even ask for more, lest the quantity given were not enough to -protect them from the dreaded illness. Though the merits of quinine are -more universally acknowledged, it did not seem to be as acceptable, nor -to be coveted with equal greediness. - -We generally started at about five in the morning, paddling steadily -till about eleven, when we landed as soon as we found a suitable spot, -if possible shaded with trees. Here we would hang the hammocks, prepare -the midday repast, and wait until three, letting the hottest hours of -the day pass by. At this time the sun seemed to dart real rays of fire -upon the burnished waters, whose reflection dazzled and blinded our -eyes. - -About three in the afternoon we would start again for two or three hours -more, until a convenient beach was found; once there, the camp was -formed without delay, the canoes tied up, the mats spread, and in a few -minutes two huge bonfires, made of driftwood, sent their glad flames -flickering in the night air. After supper we crept under the -mosquito-bars, and waited for Leal to call us in the morning. - -The seasons in the plains, as is well known, are sharply divided into -dry and rainy. The first lasts from May to November, and the second from -November to May. During the wet season it rains from eighteen to twenty -hours out of the twenty-four; showers are not frequent during the dry -season, but they fall now and then. - -The third or fourth night that we spent on the banks of the Tua, I was -awakened by feeling a moist sheet over my face, and at once realized -that the heavy rain had beaten down the mosquito-bar. There was nothing -for it but to cover myself with the waterproof _poncho_, sitting up for -greater convenience, and disengaging myself from the fallen -mosquito-net. There we all sat helpless under the dense cataract. The -beach, slanting towards the river, bore with it the waters from the -higher ground, and as my body made an indenture in the sand, I felt on -either side a rushing stream. Fortunately, the shower was soon over, the -bonfires were heaped with driftwood and blazed forth joyously. Coffee -was specially prepared for the occasion, and we sat in the genial warmth -of the flames until the sun burst forth on the horizon. That morning we -did not start as early as usual: the tents and covers were spread in the -sun, and after an hour or so were again dry and soft. Then we started on -our journey, leaving behind us the discomforts of the night. The rain -seemed to have gladdened the forest, and brightened the trees and bushes -into a livelier green. During the journey we underwent a similar -experience upon two or three other occasions. - -As for food, we had a comfortable supply, and hardly a day passed -without our having either some fine bird, or at times a larger piece of -game in the shape of a species of wild-boar, fairly plentiful in that -locality, the flesh of which is quite agreeable after one learns to eat -it. Besides game, we also had plenty of fish. All this without counting -the salt meat and tinned provisions. The birds most abundant were ducks -of various descriptions, wild turkeys, and a beautiful bird of fine -dark-bluish plumage, similar to a wild turkey, called _paujil_ by the -natives, the meat of which greatly resembles that of the pheasant. - -At about this stage of the journey an incident took place which shows -how even the humblest tasks in life require a certain degree of ability -and experience. One day on the river Tua, Raoul—who, as I have said, was -a great hunter before the Lord, and had no more esteem than most men for -the milder arts—had brought down a beautiful duck of exceptional size, -and of the kind known as ‘royal duck.’ Not satisfied with his triumph as -a Nimrod, he took it into his head to cook the bird himself and rival -the achievements of Vattel or Carême. He invited me to help him in his -undertaking. My culinary attainments being purely of a theoretical kind, -I promised him my moral support and hearty co-operation in the shape of -advice. We invited Alex to share our wonderful supper, to which he -replied that, being aware of the perils most incident to the efforts of -inexperienced cooks, however enthusiastic they might be, he preferred -the men’s supper, which, though humbler, was far more to be depended on. -Heedless of this taunt, Raoul went on with his work. A pot filled with -water was placed over the fire, and as soon as it was boiling the bird -was plunged into it. In due course Raoul began to pluck valiantly; -feathers black and bluish fell from his hand numerous as flakes of snow -in a winter storm. When he began to tire after a while, I took the bird -in hand, and continued the task, the feathers falling like dry leaves in -the autumnal forest. After half an hour of steady work, when the ground -was literally covered with black feathers, that blessed bird seemed -untouched. We were beginning to feel anxious and hungry, and the -tempting whiffs from the large iron pot, where the men were stirring -their stew, stung our nostrils in a tantalizing fashion. However, it was -now a question of pride and self-esteem, and we were bound to cook the -bird at any cost. By-and-by Alex, holding a steaming plate in his hand, -came to us and invited us to eat. Raoul rejected the offer, and though I -was most anxious to accept it, I felt bound in loyalty to stand by him. -We told Alex that we wanted to reserve the fulness of our appetite for -our delicious bird, to which Alex replied that by the time that bird was -ready we should certainly be hungry enough to devour it, leaving the -bones quite clean. Raoul and I took turns at plucking the duck, which at -last seemed to yield, showing a few whitish specks here and there devoid -of all feathery covering. Seeing our plight, Fermin, who had stood by, -not being called upon to help, seized the bird, declaring that we had -allowed it to become chilled, and that the perfect plucking of it was -well-nigh impossible. However, he undertook the job most courageously, -and finally, taking advantage of the shades of night, which facilitated -a compromise, we dropped that royal duck into the boiling water and -pretended to enjoy our supper, such as it was, when ready. How much we -ate is a question as to which I need not go into detail here, but I must -own that in lying down upon my mat under the mosquito-bar I felt -famished. From that day onwards both Raoul and I decided to forego all -interference in matters culinary, beyond occasional advice. I have no -doubt that, had Fermin or one of the men undertaken the task, we should -not only have had our supper much sooner, but a dish fit for any man’s -palate. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - -On the fourth day, about two hours’ sail from the confluence of the Tua -with the Meta River, we stopped at a large cattle-ranch called Santa -Barbara. The owner invited us to a dinner—the inevitable dishes of the -_llano_: meat roasted over a bonfire, plaintains and coffee. - -The ranch consisted, we were told, of about 10,000 head of cattle, and -was typical of the ranches to be found on the _llanos_ of Colombia and -Venezuela. - -Here, in the person of what might be called the sub-manager, whose name -was Secundino, we came face to face with a real tiger-hunter. - -After dinner I asked Secundino how men fleeted the time away in that -lonely region beyond the din of civilized life. His statements -corroborated what I had heard before, that there is no ownership of land -in the _llanos_; the herds graze freely over the plains, the animals -being practically wild, and kept together by the presence amongst them -of a few tame cattle which, being accustomed to the presence of man, -will remain in the neighbourhood of the houses or _caneyes_. Another -great attraction to the cattle is the salt which is strewn upon large -slabs of stone or flat boards. By these two devices, thousands of -animals are kept within a comparatively short distance of the ranch. - -To enable each ranch-owner to brand the cattle belonging to him, -_rodeos_ or round-ups are held two or three times during the year. These -_rodeos_ are gatherings of the herds. The men ride out in all directions -from the ranch, and drive the cattle towards the _corrales_. In this -task they are greatly helped by the presence of the tame animals, which -are easily led or driven as required, and are always followed by the -others. - -Once in the _corrales_, the branding begins. A red-hot iron is used, -shaped either to form one or two letters or some special sign which -constitutes the trade or hall mark, so to speak, of the respective -ranch. The animals are forced to pass through a long, narrow enclosure -between two fences, and are branded as they go by; but with animals that -give a great deal of trouble a different method is followed. This -consists in starting the bull, heifer, or cow, as the case may be, on -the run. A man on horseback follows, and when both the horse and the -bull have attained sufficient impetus, the man seizes the bull by the -tail, and with a sudden twist turns it over on its side, jumping at once -from his horse to pass the tail under the bull’s leg; this compresses -certain muscles, prevents all motion, and leaves the fallen animal -helpless. The branding is then done without any difficulty, either on -the fore or the hind quarters. - -Secundino told us that this way of throwing the cattle down was not -confined to the branding season, but that it formed a frequent sport -amongst herdsmen in the plains, as it required great skill to accomplish -it. Another sport in which he and his friends indulged, and which he -described with great zest, was riding wild bulls. The process consists -first in throwing the bull to the ground, whereupon a thick rope is tied -as a girdle, only that it is placed quite close to the withers and right -under the forelegs of the animal. All this time the bull has been held -on the ground, bellowing and panting for sheer rage; as soon as the rope -is ready, the intending rider stands by the side of the animal with his -two hands stuck between the rope and the skin, on either side of the -spine, and the moment the bull is let loose and stands on its feet the -man leaps on its back. Then follows a wonderful struggle: the beast, -unaccustomed to any burden, rears and plunges, springs backwards and -forwards with great violence; the man, always spurred, increases the -fury of the animal by pricking its sides. His two arms, like bars of -iron, stand rigid, and man and bullock seem as though made of one piece. -At last the bull is exhausted, and sullenly acknowledges the superior -force of the rider; but it takes rare courage and strength to accomplish -this feat. - -After describing these and other pastimes, Secundino quietly added: - -‘Whenever my work leaves me time, I kill tigers.’ - -He said this unpretentiously, yet with a certain air of -self-consciousness that must have brought the shadow of a doubting smile -to my lips. Secundino saw this, and, without appearing to take notice of -it, invited us outside the house, and showed us, at a certain distance -from it, lying on the ground, ten tigers’ skulls, some of which bore -traces of having been recently cleansed from skin and flesh. - -‘You see,’ he added, ‘that I have some proofs of my tiger-killing!’ - -He told us that the tigers were the worst enemies of the cattle-farmer. - -‘Other animals,’ he said, ‘will take just what they want, but the tiger -is fierce, cruel, and kills for the sake of killing. If he should happen -to get into an enclosure containing twenty or thirty young calves, he -will kill them all, and take one away with him. We are at open and -constant warfare with the tigers,’ he added, ‘and there is no truce -between us.’ - -The _llaneros_ usually kill tigers by spearing them. Referring to this, -Secundino said that doubtless it was more dangerous than shooting the -beast down at long range with a Winchester or a Remington rifle; ‘but,’ -he went on to say, ‘powder and lead are expensive, cartridges are -difficult to obtain, and when once exhausted your weapon is no better -than a broomstick. The spear, however, is always ready, and never fails -you. When I go out tiger-hunting I take my dogs, who follow the scent -and guide me. I carry with me, besides the spears, a muzzle-loader, in -case of emergency. The moment the dogs see the tiger they give cry; the -beast seeks higher ground, and the fight with the dogs begins at once. -The tiger is afraid even of a cur. The dogs that we have here are well -trained, and though at times they are killed by the tiger, that seldom -happens. I follow my dogs, keeping the animal well in sight, with my -spear ready, and at the right moment dash forward and plunge it into his -breast. If the blow is a good one, that ends it. Now and then it is -necessary to fire the rifle into him; but this is a great pity, owing to -the waste of lead and gunpowder.’ - -I am trying to repeat here word by word Secundino’s quiet statement. It -sounds fanciful and exaggerated, but all those who have travelled over -the plains of either Venezuela or Colombia will have heard that such is -the commonest mode of tiger-killing amongst the _llaneros_. The tiger of -these latitudes, however, is not the same as the tiger of India and -other parts of Asia. It is smaller, but not less ferocious; it is -spotted, and not striped. The spear used is very long, made of very hard -wood, and has a most murderous appearance. - -Secundino, after telling me of his short way with tigers, asked me to -handle the weapon, and generously gave me some instructions as to the -exact poise to be adopted for striking a blow, explaining to me how -dangerous it might be were I to forget the rules which he could -recommend from experience. To begin with, I could hardly lift the spear, -and, then, there was practically no chance of my ever going to seek a -tiger in his lair. Secundino, however, was profoundly in earnest, and, -rather than disabuse him or hurt his feelings, I solemnly promised him -that I would never kill tigers otherwise than in strict conformity with -his advice, and that at the first opportunity I would practise throwing -the spear and poising my body, so as to make sure. - -Towards evening, as we were about leaving, when I was already seated in -the canoe, whilst Leal was still ashore, I overheard these words passing -between him and Secundino: - -‘How far are you going, Friend Leal?’ - -‘Down to the Orinoco, to accompany these gentlemen.’ - -‘How are you coming back, by land or by water?’ - -‘I do not know yet—that depends.’ - -‘Well, all right; if you come this way, I should like you to tackle a -horse that we have here, which no one seems able to ride, and which I -dare not tackle myself.’ - -‘Never you mind,’ answered Leal; ‘I will see to it when I return.’ - -Here was a revelation. Leal’s prowess grew in our estimation. This guide -of ours was called upon to break in a horse which Secundino, the -tiger-hunter, whose title to the name, if devoid of diplomas or academic -signatures, was vouched for by the ten tiger-skulls which we had seen, -would not dare to ride himself! - -On we went towards the Meta River, leaving our friends on the shore -shouting to us messages of good speed. We soon noticed that our canoe, -being lighter in draft, had left the other far behind it. - -It darkened much earlier than we expected, and to our great regret we -saw that the second canoe could not catch us up, which was annoying, as -supper, beds, and everything else, with the exception of a demijohn of -aniseed _aguardiente_, were in it. We landed at the first beach that we -struck, hoping against hope that the stragglers might overtake us. - -Time had passed so agreeably at Santa Barbara, listening to Secundino’s -tales, that we had not noticed how late it was. It seemed to us, -furthermore, that darkness had set in earlier than usual. On hearing -some remark to that effect, Fermin observed that the sun had set for us -that day earlier than usual. He laid stress upon the words ‘for us,’ -and, on being asked what he meant thereby, said that the darkness had -been caused by a cloud which had interposed itself between us and the -setting sun, thus bringing night earlier than usual. - -‘What nonsense are you talking about?’ said Raoul. ‘There is no cloud in -the matter; we went on talking and talking, and forgot the time.’ - -‘No, sir,’ Fermin said, without moving a muscle; ‘I know what I am -talking about. The cloud was formed by the feathers of that bird which -we tried to pluck yesterday; they are so many that they darken the light -of the sun!’ - -Up to this day I cannot say what happened. I do not know if we mistook -the hour of the day and were overtaken by night, or if, in truth, as -Fermin asserted, the wrathful ghost of the mishandled duck spread its -black feathers above our heads, thus forming a mantle like the mantle of -arrows which the Spartan warriors asked the Persian invaders to fire at -them, so that they might fight in the shade. This problem, which -contains historical, astronomical and atmospherical elements, will -remain for ever as dark and mysterious as the feathers of the dead bird. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - -Night soon asserted her sway. The blue vault of heaven, alive with -innumerable stars, was clear and diaphanous; no cloud was to be seen. -The evening noises died away, and the dead silence was only broken now -and then by a vague rumour wafted mysteriously through space—the wash of -waters on the shore, or possibly the lisp of forests by the river. We -gave up all hope of the other canoe arriving that night, and faced the -inevitable—no supper, no beds. As in our own canoe we carried a demijohn -of _aguardiente_, one or two generous draughts were our only supper. We -were not hampered by excess of riches or of comforts; as to the -selection of our beds, the whole extent of the beach was equally sandy -and soft; but, having slept for many nights on the shores of the Tua, -and knowing that we were at its confluence with the Meta, for the sake -of a change—a distinction without a difference—we stretched ourselves -full length on the side of the beach looking to the Meta River. - -The water-course, practically unknown to civilization, appeared to me as -I lay there like a wandering giant lost amidst the forests and the -plains of an unknown continent. The surface of the waters sparkled in -the starlight like hammered steel. My thoughts followed the luminous -ripples until they were lost to sight in the darkness of the opposite -shore, or, wandering onwards with the flow, melted into the horizon. -Whither went those waters? Whence came they? What were their evolutions, -changes, and transformations? Idle questions! Flow of life or flow of -wave, who but He that creates all things can know its source and its -finality? Idle cavillings indeed! - -Suddenly, as drowsiness had begun to seize me, a wonderful phenomenon -took place. There from the midst of the waters arose an indistinct yet -mighty figure; high it stood amidst the waters which parted, forming a -sort of royal mantle upon its shoulders; it gazed upon me with the -sublime placidity of the still seas, the high mountains, the unending -plains, the primeval forests, and all the manifestations of Nature, -great and serene in their power and majesty. And the figure spoke: - -‘Listen to me, O pilgrim, lost in these vast solitudes; listen to the -voice of the wandering streams! We rivers bring life to forest and -valley; we are children of the mountains, heralds of continents, -benefactors of man. My current, powerful and mighty though it seems, is -but a tiny thread of the many streams that, mingled and interwoven, so -to say, go to form the main artery of whirling, heaving water called the -Orinoco. From north and south, from east and west, we all flow along the -bosom of the plains, after having gathered unto ourselves the playful -streamlets, the murmuring brooks that swell into torrents and dash down -the mountain-sides, filling the hills and the intervening valleys with -life and joy. They come from the highest slopes—nay, from the topmost -peaks crowned with everlasting snow, the sources of our life; down they -rush, and after innumerable turns and twists, after forming now -cataracts, now placid lakes, reach the plain, and in their course they -broaden the large streams which in turn merge with others in the huge -basin, and form the vast artery that drains the surface of a great part -of the continent, and bears its tribute to the Atlantic Ocean. Yea, -verily indeed, we rivers are as twin brothers of Time; the hours pass -and pass, ceaseless as our waves; they flow into Eternity, we into the -bosom of the great deep. This land, the land of your birth and of mine, -to-day an unknown quantity in the history of the world, is a destined -site of a mighty empire. The whole continent of South America is the -reserve store for the future generations of millions of men yet unborn. -Hither they will come from all parts of the world: on the surface of the -globe no more favourable spot exists for the home of mankind. Along the -coast of the Pacific Ocean runs the mighty backbone of the Cordillera -like a bulwark, high, immense, stately; above it, like the towers and -turrets in the walls of a fortified city, rise the hundred snow-capped -peaks that look east and west, now on the ocean, now on the -ever-spreading undulating plains, and south and north to the line of -mountains extending for thousands of miles. - -‘In the very heart of the tropical zone, where the equatorial sun darts -his burning rays, are the plateaus of the Andes, hundreds of square -miles in extent, with all the climates and the multitudinous products of -the temperate zone. In the heart and bowels of the mountains are the -precious metals coveted by man’s avarice and vanity, those forming the -supreme goal of his endeavours; and the useful—indeed, the truly -precious—metals, coal, iron, copper, lead, and all others that are known -to man, exist in a profusion well-nigh illimitable. The trade-winds, -whose wings have swept across the whole width of the Atlantic Ocean, -laden with moisture, do not stop their flight when the sea of moving -waters ceases and the sea of waving grass begins. Across the plains, -over the tree-tops of the primeval forests, shaking the plumage of the -palm-trees, ascending the slopes of the hills, higher, still higher, -into the mountains, and finally up to the loftiest peaks, those winds -speed their course, and there the last drops of moisture are wrung from -them by that immeasurable barrier raised by the hand of God; their force -seems to be spent, and, like birds that have reached their native -forest, they fold their wings and are still. The moisture thus gathered -and thus deposited forms the thousand currents of water that descend -from the heights at the easternmost end of the continent, and convert -themselves into the largest and most imposing water systems in the -world. Thus is formed the Orinoco system, which irrigates the vast -plains of Colombia and Venezuela. Further south, created by a similar -concurrence of circumstances and conditions, the Amazon system drags the -volume of its wandering sea across long, interminable leagues of -Brazilian forest and plain. Its many streams start in their pilgrimage -from the interior of Colombia, of Ecuador, of Peru, and of Bolivia, and -these two systems of water-ways, which intersect such an immense extent -of land thousands of miles from the mouth of the main artery that -plunges into the sea, are connected by a natural canal, the Casiquiare -River, so that the traveller might enter either river, follow its course -deep into the heart of the continent, cross by water to the other, and -then reappear on the ocean, always in the same boat. - -‘If the wealth of the mountains is boundless and virgin, if on the -slopes and on the plateaus and the neighbouring valleys all the -agricultural products useful to man may be grown—and the forests teem -with wealth that belongs to him who first takes it—if the rocks likewise -cover or bear immense deposits of all the metals and minerals useful to -man, the lowlands and the plains offer grazing-ground for untold herds -of cattle and horses, and further to the south beyond the Amazon, -running southward, not eastward like the Orinoco and the Amazon, the -Parana unrolls its waves, which, after leaving the tropic, enter the -southern temperate zone, irrigating for untold miles the endless pampas -of Argentina and Uruguay. In very truth, this continent is the Promised -Land. - -‘In your pilgrimage along the waters of the Orinoco, you will see all -the wonders of tropical Nature. Now the forests will stand on either -bank close along the shores in serried file, and moving mirrors of the -waters will reflect the murmuring tops of the trees, noisy and full of -life as the winds sweep by in their flight, or else the frowning rock, -bare and rugged, will stand forth from the current like the wall of a -medieval castle. Now the trees will open a gap through which, as from -under a triumphal arch, the current of a river, a wanderer from the -mysterious and unknown depths of the neighbouring forests, pours forth -into the main stream and mingles with the passing waters, joining his -fate to theirs, even as the High Priest of some unknown creed might -issue from the temple and mingle with the passing crowd. Some rivers -that reach the main artery have had but a short pilgrimage, the junction -of their many waters having taken place at no great distance from the -main stream; others have had a long wandering, sometimes placid and -serene, sometimes amidst rocks and boulders, with an ever frenzied and -agitated course like the lives of men striving and struggling till the -last great trumpet sounds. The course of the river will be studded with -islands large enough for the foundation of empires, and before reaching -the sea the river will extend and spread its current into a thousand -streams, as if loth to part from the Mother Earth it sought to embrace -more firmly in its grasp, and our waters will flow into the unplumbed -deep, there to mingle with those of all the rivers, whether their course -has been through lands alive with civilization, swarming with multitudes -of men on their shores, laden with the memories of centuries and famous -in history, or whether they, like us, have wandered through vast -solitudes where Nature is still supreme in her primeval pride, as yet -unpolluted by the hand of man. There we all meet, and to us what men -call time and its divisions exist not, for all the transformations that -affect mankind are as naught to us who form part and parcel of Nature -itself, who only feel time after the lapse of æons which to the mind of -man are practically incomprehensible. Seek to learn the lesson of -humility, to acknowledge the power of the Creator, who gave to man what -we rivers and all other material things can never hope for—a future -beyond this earth, higher, brighter, infinite, eternal.’ - -The figure seemed to sink slowly under the mantle of waters that had -covered its shoulders; the sun was rising in the eastern horizon, the -rumour of awakening Nature filled the air with its thousand echoes, and -drifting rapidly towards us we saw Leal with the canoe that had remained -behind the night before. - -On telling Alex, Raoul, and Fermin my experience, and asking in good -faith what they had thought of the visitation, they looked askance at -me. It seems that sleep had overpowered them; they had not seen the -river-god of the Meta, and irreverently set down the whole occurrence to -the quality of my supper the preceding night. It is ever thus with -unbelievers; they will seek some material or vulgar explanation for that -which they cannot understand and have not seen. - -That very morning, after the necessary arrangements and the usual -morning coffee, we started down the Meta River. If we might have called -the navigation on the Tua somewhat amphibious, navigation on the Meta, -specially for such small craft as we possessed, seemed to us as on the -open sea. Our first care was to seek larger canoes. Leal guided us -through one of the neighbouring _caños_ to a cattle-ranch, where he -expected to suit our requirements. This _caño_ chanced to be famous for -its snakes, principally of the kind called _macaurel_, a dark brownish -species, varying from 2 to 4 and 5 feet in length, and from ¼ inch to 2 -inches in diameter. When in repose they coil themselves around the -branches of the trees, and their bite, if not cured immediately, is -fatal. Leal shot one of the horrible reptiles in the body; the linking -of the rings that take the place of vertebræ being thus unloosened, the -coils became wider, the animal lost its grip and fell into the water, -staining it with a blue-greenish reflection of a metallic hue. It seems -that one shot of the smallest size is sufficient to kill these snakes, -provided it breaks one of the rings above mentioned. I shuddered as we -passed under the trees, knowing that many of these dreaded reptiles must -be above our heads. The _caño_ in some parts was so narrow and the -forest so dense that it was impossible to avoid the overhanging -branches, and when I thought that we should have to go over the same -route next day, disgust and a feeling of dread took possession of me. By -the time we reached our destination, after a journey of eight or ten -miles, over twenty of these creatures had been brought down. We obtained -two large canoes, which seemed to us like veritable ships or floating -palaces compared to the little craft we had used for so many days. We -turned to the river Meta, and did not feel safe until we had left the -_caño_ behind, and could breathe once more in the open air on the bosom -of the large river, with only heaven above our heads. - -The Meta River, which flows entirely upon Colombian territory, describes -large winding curves in its course eastward towards the Orinoco. Its -banks are high and well defined, its channel fairly steadfast even in -the dry season. This is not common, most of these rivers often shifting -their course, to the despair of pilots and navigators. Both sides of the -Meta we knew were occupied, or, rather, frequently visited, by various -wild tribes. Now and then Leal would point out a part of the shore, -stating that it belonged to some ranch, but how he could know was a -mystery to us, as no visible difference existed. - -The temperature, though quite hot in the middle of the day, was -agreeable, and even cool, in the early morning and a greater part of the -night. The trade-wind, which blows steadily every day during the dry -season, at times gathered such force that we were compelled, going -against it as we did, to wait long hours for it to subside. Our canoes -were not so arranged as to enable us to hoist sail and tack against the -wind. - -On the river Meta we observed a large species of fish, which, had we -been at sea, we should have identified at once as porpoises. The men -told us that they were called _bufeos_, and in reality came from the -sea, having ascended the waters of the Orinoco for thousands of miles, -and branched off into the Meta River. One of the men, illiterate like -all his fellows, but versed in forest, mountain and plain lore, stated -that those _bufeos_ were the friends of man; that they loved music and -song; that they would follow a boat or canoe whence the echoes of -singing or of some musical instrument could be heard for miles and miles -at a time; that when they were present in the water the alligators and -all the other enemies of man kept away, or were driven away by the -_bufeos_; and that whenever by chance the fishermen caught one of these, -he would at once release it in remembrance of their friendship for -mankind. These were, therefore, our old-time friends the porpoises. - -The simple tale of the man, one of our paddlers, who had never been in a -city in his life nor seen any of the wonders of our times, to whose mind -such words as civilization, Fatherland, and religion, as well as many -others that form the glib vocabulary of modern man, were mere empty -sounds or air, could not but set me a-thinking—first, as to the value of -those words. Fatherland, our country, his and mine, yet how different -the conception, and how those consecrated, holy words are abused by the -tricksters, great and small, who control and exploit mankind for their -own benefit! Patriotism should consist in justice and equality of rights -and tolerance to all, whereas, in fact, it is but a mask for the greed -and avarice of the strong. My countryman is he whose ideals are -identical with mine. What makes another being my fellow-man and my -brother is an identity of ideals, not a concurrence of geographical -conditions of birth. If he who is born ten thousand miles away in an -unknown climate and in a different latitude shares with me the love of -justice and of freedom, and will struggle for them even as I would, why -should we be separated by conventional distinctions which benefit -neither him nor me nor justice nor freedom as ideals? - -I thought, are these lands and this vast continent still virgin in the -sense that humanity has not exploited them? are they to be the last -scene of the stale criminal imposture now called civilization? Are men -to come by thousands and by millions to these plains and these -mountains, and settle on the shores of these rivers, bringing with them -their old prejudices, their old tyrannical conventionalities, the -hatreds that have stained history with blood for hundreds and for -thousands of years, rearing on these new lands the old iniquities, -calling them fatherlands, baptizing their crimes with holy words, and -murdering in the name of patriotism? If such is to be the future of -these lands, far better were it that the mighty rivers should overflow -their course and convert into one immense lake, twin brother of the -neighbouring sea, the vast plains, the endless mysterious forest; and -that the immense bulwark of the Andes, aflame with a thousand volcanoes, -should make the region inhospitable and uninhabitable to man: for of -iniquity there is enough, and no more should be created under God’s -heaven. - -But the tale set me also a-thinking of the power of tradition and the -beauty of song. If my memory plays me no trick, Arion, homeward-bound -from the Court of Corinth, and laden with gifts of a King who worshipped -song, was seized and thrown into the sea by the crew, but the listening -dolphins or porpoises, grateful for the heavenly message thus delivered -by him, bore him ashore and saved his life. So, more or less, runs the -classical tale; and here in the wilds of America, from the lips of an -unlettered woodman, the same beautiful conceit, clothed in simple words, -had rung in my ears. The power of song, the beauty of the legend, had -filtered itself through hundreds of generations from the days of our -mother Greece, the mother of art and of beauty, across the mountains and -the years and the seas and the continents, and the legend and the -allegory were alive in their pristine and essential characteristics in -the forests of tropical America. This gave me hope. If the power of -things ideal, of things that have in them the divine charm of undying -force, overcomes time and distance, why should not the ideal of -righteousness, of liberty, and of justice prevail? And the vast -continent of South America, why should it not be the predestined home of -a happy and regenerate humanity? The trade-winds which come from the old -world and across the ocean are purified on the heights of the -Cordilleras. Even so humanity in that pilgrimage that is bound to take -place ere long, as the ancient world begins to overflow, may regenerate -itself and establish liberty and justice in that new world. If these be -dreams, awakening were bitter. - -We soon heard that it was easy to reach one of the affluents of the -Vichada by crossing the plains for about a mile overland, and, all -things considered, decided to abandon the Meta River, even though the -journey might be longer than we had at first intended. Thus, on the -fourth day of navigation down the Meta we stopped, and at a place known -as San Pedro del Arrastradero, where we found quite a large settlement, -about 150 people, we left the Meta behind us and at once made ready for -our journey through the Vichada, as large as the Meta, we were told, and -inhabited by numerous savage tribes. This gave additional interest to -the journey, and we looked forward to it with pleasure. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - -The settlement of San Pedro del Arrastradero—or of Arimena, as it is -also called—lies on the right shore of the River Meta about 150 miles -from its confluence with the Orinoco. Within a very short distance of -the Meta at that point, less than a mile to the south, the _caño_ of -Caracarate branches towards the Muco River, which, flowing to the -south-east, joins the Vichada; the latter, of about the same volume as -the Meta, flows south-east till it strikes the Orinoco above the rapids. -The Meta and the Vichada and the Orinoco form a triangle, of which the -last named is the base. The Vichada enters the main stream some fifty -miles above, and the Meta about 200 miles below, the series of rapids -which divide the river into the Lower and the Upper Orinoco. - -Scattered far and wide at long distances apart on the plain which -borders the Meta are numerous cattle-ranches, and on its very shores are -settlements testifying to the effort of civilized man. But the new -region that we were about to enter, irrigated by the Muco, the Vichada, -and their affluents, is absolutely wild, and has seldom been crossed by -white men other than stray missionaries, or adventurous traders in -search of cheap rubber, resinous substances, tonga beans, hammocks, etc. -These the Indians exchange for trifles, or implements which they prize -very highly: to the wild inhabitants an axe, a cutlass, a knife, are -veritable treasures, distinguishing their owner among his fellows. - -The tribes along the shores of the Meta River were known to be mostly -hostile and aggressive. Travellers on that river always, if possible, -pitch their camps on islets in mid-stream for fear of night attacks, and -even then they need to keep strict watch and have their arms beside -them. It is dangerous for small expeditions to cross the part of the -river below San Pedro del Arrastradero. - -But the tribes along the region that we were about to cross, though no -less primitive than the others, are mild and easily amenable to -civilization. They are numerous, and under good guidance might be -advantageously employed in useful work, might be taught to gather the -natural products abounding in the forests, and cultivate the soil -systematically. Their present notions of agriculture are elementary; -they only practise it on a very small scale, relying principally on what -they can hunt and fish. - -At San Pedro we found an individual who for over thirty years had been -in the habit of travelling on the Muco and the Vichada, often going as -far as Ciudad Bolivar, near the mouth of the Orinoco. He had amassed a -little fortune by trading with the Indians. He spoke their dialect, and -practised polygamy in accordance with their unsophisticated rites and -customs. It was said that he had a great number of children along the -shores of the river; he could therefore recommend us to his family, so -to speak. His name was Gondelles. He had often accompanied the -missionaries who had attempted to preach the Gospel among the savages, -and, unless Rumour was a lying jade, he had himself strenuously -endeavoured to observe that Divine precept which refers to increasing -and multiplying the human species! - -The Indians of this region are specially expert in weaving beautiful -hammocks from fibres of the various kinds of _maguey_ or _agave_ plants, -or else extracted from the leaves of the _moriche_. The most prized, -however, are those made of fibre of the _cumare_ palm, soft and pliant -as silk. A large and comfortable hammock woven of this fibre will take -up the smallest possible space and last longer than any other. These -Indians are also skilled in canoe-making; with their primitive stone -instruments, aided by fire, they will make admirable canoes of one -piece, hewn from the trunk of a tree. These canoes at times are so large -that they will seat from twenty to twenty-five men comfortably, but most -of them are small craft easily handled, holding six or eight persons at -most. - -Some of the men who had accompanied us thus far now refused to continue -the journey. We were informed that it would be comparatively easy to -replace them with Indians who would accompany us for four or five days -at a trifling wage. The tribes being numerous, it would not be difficult -to find new hands at each stage. - -The wage of our new canoe men was always paid in kind: a handkerchief, a -pound of salt, an empty bottle, a strip of gaudy silk—we had still some -London cravats—were the most coveted articles. The idea of equity and -work done for value received does not exist amongst the Indians. We soon -found that it was folly to give them the article agreed upon until the -work was done; for once the men had received what they coveted, they -would abandon us, stealthily leaving the camp in the dusk at the first -landing, and sometimes even rushing into the jungle in broad daylight. - -So now with a full crew, now crippled, we managed to continue the -journey, first for six days on the Muco, and then on the Vichada, the -navigation of which proved to be much longer than we had expected. - -The general aspect of Nature on these two rivers differed very little -from what we had seen on the Meta. The shores of the Muco are generally -covered with mangroves that push far into the current their submerged -network of roots and branches, of which one must steer clear, as they -are hiding-places for snakes, and are apt, if struck unexpectedly, to -capsize the canoes. These beautiful clear waters, so harmless, so -placid, in appearance, are in truth full of danger. Apart from -alligators and water snakes, they abound in a species of small fish -called _caribe_, which attack men and animals, especially if they find a -sore spot in the skin. They swarm in such quantities and are so -voracious that a bull or a horse crossing the river, if attacked by -these fish, may lose a leg, or receive such a deep wound in the body -that death is inevitable. No less perilous is the electric eel, which, -on being touched, gives a shock so strong that the man or animal -receiving it generally falls into the stream. Even tigers are known to -have been struck by these peculiar fish, and it is said that some have -been drowned, being unable to recover themselves in time. - -During the month of January the turtles begin to lay their eggs. Our -attention was called to a specially bright star in the horizon, which -the men asserted only appeared in that month of the year. It was called -the star of the _terecayes_. The _terecay_ is a small species of turtle, -and much prized, and with reason, on account of its exquisite flesh. On -more than one occasion, quite unexpectedly, the canoes would be steered -ashore, the men would jump on the sand and run as if guided by some -well-known landmark. After a few yards they would stop, and, digging in -the sand with their hands, would extract a nest full of _terecay_ eggs, -the contents varying from fifty to over a hundred. Their experienced -eyes had seen the tracks of the _terecay_ on the sand. These turtles, -like all others, lay their eggs once a year on the sand, and cover them -up carefully, leaving the cares of motherhood to the forces of Nature. -Once hatched in this fashion, the young turtles must shift for -themselves, and their instinct tells them that their numerous enemies -lie in watch for their awakening to active life. The moment they break -the shell they make as quickly as they can for the neighbouring waters, -where they are comparatively safe. - -If the inhabitants of those regions lack book-learning and knowledge of -things in which their more civilized fellow-creatures are versed, Nature -and the life which they lead have given them a keenness of sight, of -hearing, and of touch far beyond the average citizen of town and -village. I often noticed of an evening, as the canoes were being tied -and hoisted halfway out of the water, that the men walking along the -beach would mutter to themselves, or call the attention of their fellows -to the sand, which to me seemed smooth and uniform. Pointing to the -ground, they would say, duck, turtle, tapir, alligator, wild-boar, deer, -tiger, and so forth. The tracks which they saw were, so to speak, the -visiting-cards of animals which had spent the day on the beach where our -camp was pitched at night. - -When we first came in contact with a real wild Indian I experienced a -feeling very difficult to describe. - -Here was a being whose appearance was identical with our own, save for -details of colour of skin and other trivial distinctions which could not -affect the essential organic elements; yet he awakened within us a -curiosity akin to that with which we gaze at a wild animal in some -zoological garden. What a deep gulf yawned between that forlorn brother -and ourselves! The work of generations, the treasures heaped up by man -for man during centuries of struggle and endeavour, hopes and fears, -disappointments, traditions, ideals, conventionalities, all that -constitutes civilization; the higher belief in a Supreme Being, the -evolution of habits, the respect for established laws and regulations, -the reverence for sacred things—all that world essential to us was as -naught, absolutely non-existent, for that naked fellow-creature who -stood before us, unprotected, lost amid the forest in a climate -unfavourable to man. There was no one to help him, or make any effort to -improve the natural forces within him, none to lift his soul into a -higher and better world. Curiosity gave way to pity. The labour of the -missionary—of the ideal missionary—became holier and greater in my eyes. -Here was a field of promising harvest for a real worker. - -One clear and fragrant night, when all the camp slept, the bonfires half -out, the river a few feet off, as I lay awake thinking of the world to -which we belonged, so different from our present surroundings, so -distant that it seemed a far-off cloud in the sky, something that had -gone by, and which could never be reached again, I suddenly remembered -the words uttered by one of our men when we landed that afternoon upon -the beach. He had clearly enumerated a long list of animals whose tracks -were upon the very sand covered by my body. Logic took possession of my -brain with overpowering rapidity. The alligator, the tiger, and their -numerous companions have visited this beach; they may again visit it -during the night. What is to hinder them from doing so; and in that -case, what is to protect me from their attack? Little did I care for the -wild-boar, the tapir, or the deer—I knew they would be as scared of me -as I was of the other animals; and so, after this attack of fright, my -imagination worked till the sweat began to run clammy on my forehead. It -seemed to me that from the neighbouring forest a veritable Noah’s-ark of -living, rushing, roaring, famished beasts, multiplied by my fancy, and -numerous as the progeny of Gondelles, came upon us. I almost felt the -hot breath and saw the glistening eyes of the tiger outside the thin -partition of cotton of my mosquito-bar, heard the awkward shamble of the -alligator’s body, and felt the unpleasant, musky odour of the huge -lizard an instant before it crushed my bones between its jaws. Unable to -master myself, I sat upright, and would have yelled from dread but for -the spectacle that met my eyes in the moonlight, flooding the -surrounding scene. There to right and left of me snored all my -companions; the river shone brilliantly, the breeze blew softly, no one -stirred. This absence of fear on the part of those who were perfectly -familiar with all the dangers of the region reassured me completely. Oh -blessed snores and valiant snorers! My peace of mind returned, and, -lying back upon my sandy couch, I lustily joined the tuneful choir. - -Community of danger constitutes the most acceptable guarantee; no man -ever thinks of ascertaining who drives the locomotive that is to whirl -him and hundreds of his fellow-creatures at lightning speed through -glade and forest, over bridge and under tunnel; no man questions the -capability of the captain responsible for the steamship and for the -lives of thousands of his fellow-men; the most distrustful of us never -gives a thought to these points. Why? Because we know that the driver or -the captain, as the case may be, stakes his own life. Each humble -boatman who listened to Cæsar’s proud assurance that the skiff could not -sink because it carried him and all his fortunes equalled Cæsar in -self-esteem, for the lives of those poor mariners were as dear to them -as Cæsar’s life could be to him. The truth of my assertion that -community of danger constitutes the acceptability of a given guarantee -is demonstrated when, for instance, a traveller entrusting his life on a -railway or a ship to the agent of a company advances or lends money to -the same company. Then comes the hour of discrimination. All the -appliances invented by that most wonderful engine of human ingenuity, -the law of commerce, which in its numerous forms rules the world -paramount and supreme, are brought to bear. No one’s word is accepted as -sufficient; documents, signatures, seals, formalities, numerous and -complicated, are employed as a delicate proof of the trust that the man -of the world ever places in the good faith of his brother before God. -This suspicion is responsible for an enormous amount of expense and -trouble which, were good faith more abundant or were belief in its -existence general, might be applied to relieve misery and sorrow. If the -action of humanity all the world over in this dreary endeavour to -protect man from the rascality of man be justified, we are, indeed, not -very far removed in truth and in essence from the savages of the forest, -who seize what they need and prey upon each other according to the -dictates of nature. If beauty be but skin-deep, civilization is not more -profoundly ingrained, and the smallest rub reveals the primitive -ravening beast. Yet I may be mistaken; perhaps it is not distrust which -begets all those precautions, but something so noble that I dare not -presume to divine, much less to understand, it. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - -Though several years have elapsed since my journey across those wild -vast regions, the remembrance of them is most vivid and clear in my -mind. It seems to me that everything in that period of my life, -landscape and human beings, forest and plain, stream and cloud, -mountains and breezes, all, all are still alive; they form part of the -panorama or scene wherein my memory keeps them immortal, abiding for -ever as I saw them, though unattainable to me. What was, is; what was, -must be; so I imagine. Memory is in this respect like the artist. The -sculptor or the painter seizes one moment of life, fashions and records -it in marble or in bronze, in line or colour, and there it remains -defying time, unchanging and unchangeable. The gallery of the mind, the -vast storehouse of the past, is infinite. It keeps in its inmost -inexhaustible recesses the living record of our life, the tremulous -shadowy hues of early night deepening into the dark, the glory of the -rising sun casting its veil of light upon the waves, the sensation of -the breeze as it fans our heated brow after an anxious night, the -thunder of the ocean or the deafening tumult of frenzied crowds in hours -of national misfortune or universal anger, the last parting word or look -of those who are gone before, the blithe greeting of him who comes back -to us after years of absence and of sorrow: all these manifestations of -life, the ebb and flow of joy and happiness, of pain and grief, stand -individualized, so to speak, in the memory, and nothing, save the loss -of memory itself, can change them. Nothing so dear to the heart as those -treasures; against them time and the vicissitudes of life are -powerless—even as the lovers and the dancers and the singers and the -enchanted leafy forest in Keats’ ‘Grecian Urn.’ That love will know no -disappointment. Sweet as songs heard may be, far sweeter are those -unheard of human ear; beautiful as are the green boughs of the forest, -far lovelier are those whose verdure is imperishable, whose leaves will -know no autumn; and sweeter than all melody, the unheard melody of those -flutes, dumb and mute in the infinite harmony which man can imagine, but -not create. Our own mind keeps that record of the past; hallowed and -sacred should it be, for therein our sorrow may find relief, and our joy -purity and new strength. - -Beautiful indeed were our days. Gliding softly over the waters, we would -read, and there, in forced and intimate communion with Nature, would -seek our old-time friends the historians, the poets, the humbler singers -that had charmed, or instructed, or taught us how to live. The lessons -of history seemed clearer and more intelligible, the puissant and -sonorous voice of poetry sounded fitly under that blue sky in the midst -of those forests, even as the notes of the organ seem to vibrate and -echo as in their very home, under the fretted vault of some Gothic -temple. The majesty of surrounding Nature lent an additional charm to -the voice of the great ones who had delivered a message of consolation -and of hope to mankind. We lived now in Rome, now in Greece, now in -modern Europe, and frequently the songs of our own poets filled our -minds with joy, as the twitter of native birds when the sun rose and the -morning sparkled, bedewed with jewels that night had left on leaves and -flowers. - -One day, when we had grown expert in bargaining with the Indians, -shortly before sunset a solitary Indian paddled towards our camp. He had -been attracted by the novel sight. We had learnt that within the memory -of living man no such large convoy as ours had passed through those -waters; groups of eight or ten men in one canoe were the largest ever -seen—at least, the largest groups of strangers. Here was a small army, -with two large canoes and great abundance of strange and wonderful -equipment—boxes, trunks, weapons, cooking utensils, many men with white -faces and marvellous strange array; indeed, enough to attract the -attention and curiosity of any child of the forest. The canoe upon which -the Indian stood was barely six feet in length—so narrow and shallow -that at a distance he seemed to stand on the very mirror of the waters. -He carried a large paddle, shaped like a huge rose-leaf somewhat blunted -at the end, and with a very long stem. He plunged this gracefully in the -water on either side, seeming hardly to bend or to make any effort, and -in feathering there appeared a convex mirror of liquid glass, upon which -the sunlight fell in prismatic hues each time that his paddle left the -water. He drew near, and stood before us like a bronze statue. He was -stark naked, save for a clout round his loins. On his brow was a crown -of tiger-claws surmounted by two eagle feathers. Across his neck, hung -by a string, was a small bag of woven fibre containing a piece of salt, -some hooks made of bone and small harpoons which could be set on arrows, -and two hollow reeds about an eighth of an inch in diameter and four or -five inches long. By means of these reeds the Indians inhale through -their nostrils an intoxicating powder, in which they delight. The man -was young, powerfully built, about five feet ten in height, and well -proportioned; his teeth glistening and regular; his eyes black and -large, gleaming like live coals; he was a perfect incarnation of the -primitive race, and the hardships and exposure of his past life had left -no more trace on him than the flowing waters of the river on the -swan’s-down. - -Guided by our civilized instinct, which in these utilitarian days -prompts man to seek in whatever meets his eye, first and foremost, not -its beauty or the symbol which it may represent, or the tendency towards -something higher which it may indicate, but its utility, following this -delightful system of our latest Christian civilization, I, in common -with my companions, at once decided to exploit that simple spirit and -press him into our service. Being unable to bargain ourselves—which was -lucky for him, for in our enlightened way we should have driven a harder -bargain than our men—we entrusted the task to Leal. - -The Indian, also true to his instinct, immediately indicated—first by -signs, and then by word of mouth, when he saw he was understood—that he -craved a part of the innumerable riches before his eyes. He really did -not ask for much; he wanted some salt, a knife, a piece of glass like a -small mirror that he saw glittering in the hands of one of our men, and -whatever else we might be willing to give. He was told that he could -have all that he asked and more. He smiled broadly, and a light of joy -came over his face. These were signs truly human, not yet trained into -the hypocritical conventions of well-bred society. As he stretched forth -his hand, he was told that the gift was conditional—that he must earn -the articles he coveted, that we expected him to sit beside the other -paddlers and help to carry us for two or three days, whereupon he would -receive these rich gifts from our prodigal bounty. - -This statement seemed to our Indian interlocutor absurd, just as -something utterly incongruous and ludicrous in business would strike the -mind of a London banker. In his primitive mental organism the idea that -one man should work for another was something that found no place. Those -forests, rivers, and plains were his home; he roved free and fearless -through them, alone or in the company of others, each one of whom -provided for himself. A bargain—that basis of civilization, of culture, -that great agent of progress and of human development—was something -which he could not understand. The essence of the fact, and the fact -itself, were beyond him. We could see the struggle between his greed and -his love of freedom. The riches that we offered him tempted him far more -than glittering diamonds on the counter of a jeweller tempt a vain woman -or a burglar at bay. Yet he overcame the temptation. The glad smile -vanished; his face darkened with a look that we could interpret as -reproach, and possibly contempt; he silently lifted his paddle, and with -two strokes sped his canoe into mid-stream. Without glancing backwards, -giving now and then a tremendous stroke, he disappeared in the distance. -The rays of the sinking sun reddened the waters of the river and the -surrounding horizon; the Indian, upright in his canoe, seemed as if clad -in a sheet of flame, and finally vanished as though consumed in the -crimson glow. The sun itself in the western horizon resembled a huge -ball of red-hot iron, as if the Cyclops and the Titans, after playing, -had left it behind on the bosom of the endless plain, flat and still as -the sea in a calm. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - -The course of the rivers on the _llanos_ is far from being as straight -as the proverbial path of righteousness. They meander, wind, and turn -about, so that when on a sharp curve one often sails almost directly -against the main direction of the waters. The Indians take short cuts -overland which enable them to travel much faster than the canoes. Thus -the news of our coming preceded us by several days, and long before we -reached the mouth of the Vichada all the tribes had heard that the -largest expedition known in their history was on the way. - -For reasons which he explained to us afterwards, Leal had, without -consulting us, informed the first Indians whom we met that ours was a -party of missionaries. I do not suppose that he went into any further -details. In the mind of the Indians the remembrance of missionaries -seems to have lingered from the days when Jesuit missions were -established on nearly all the principal rivers of the Orinoco watershed. -From the time of the Independence there have been no regular missions -following a consistent plan and belonging to a special organization. Now -and then desultory attempts have been made without any appreciable -results. But the Indians respect the missionary; possibly they also fear -him, and, as we could observe later on from our own experience, they -expect from him gifts not only of a spiritual, but of a material kind. - -The result of all this is that a missionary is more likely to be -welcomed and assisted than any other traveller. This was what guided -Leal in what he considered a harmless assertion—a pious fraud, in which -the fraud is more obvious than the piety. - -Be it remarked, however, that neither my companions nor I had the least -responsibility for Leal’s action. When travelling along the mule-tracks -leading to the plains, public opinion, or what under the existing -circumstances took its place, had assigned to our expedition an -episcopal character. This assimilation to the Church seemed to have been -our fate. Here again we were incorporated in its fold in an official -capacity, so to speak, without the least intention or effort on our -part. When we learnt what Leal had done, it was too late to withdraw, -and we resigned ourselves to our new ecclesiastical honours with proper -humility. - -It is said that men may be great, some because they are born great, -others because they achieve greatness, and others yet again because -greatness is thrust upon them. In the present instance the clerical -character was thrust upon us. We—at least, I can answer for myself—tried -to live up to the new dignity, not only inwardly, but outwardly, -assuming, as far as circumstances would permit, the sedate and reverent, -contemplative demeanour which so well suits him who devotes his life to -the welfare of others, seeking to guide them to heaven by an easy path, -no matter at what cost of personal sacrifice or discomfort to himself. - -Strange, however, that this self-sacrificing mood adopted in imitation -of true priests, who despise the comforts and joys of life, should have -been assumed in our own spurious case for the special purpose of -increasing those worldly comforts and material joys! - -We soon discovered, to our amazement, that our new position was far from -being a sinecure. - -One day we were waiting for the noon-day heat to pass, having halted on -a _poyata_, the name given to small beaches that seem to stretch like a -tongue of sand from under the very roots of the forest into the river; -we had fled for shelter to the coolness of the high vaulting trees, from -whose trunks the hammocks swung invitingly. The blue heaven appeared -like an enamelled background beyond the lace-work of the intertwined -leaves and branches. The fires burned brightly and cheerily, their -flames pale and discoloured in the bright glare of the sun; the pots -simmered, and soon tempting whiffs were wafted by the lazy breeze that -hardly stirred, welcome heralds of good things to come. The stomach -reigns supreme just before and after a meal, which, if it be assured to -a hungry mortal, constitutes for him the most satisfactory event in the -immediate future, calming his anxieties or blunting the edge of care; -and after it has been eaten, the process of digestion, which for the -moment monopolizes the principal energies of the organism, seems to cast -a veil over the unpleasant aspects of life, and to soften the thorns -that beset our path. - -Some General of the Confederate Army in the United States, who had -retired to his lands after the final collapse of the South, used to -remark that one of the saddest things for an old man who had been very -active in former years was to receive the frequent news of the death of -former comrades and companions. ‘Whenever such news reaches me,’ he went -on to say, ‘I always order two pigeons for my dinner; they are so -soothing!’ - -In the midst of our pleasant expectations we found ourselves suddenly -invaded by a swarm of Indians, male and female of all ages, who came -either from the forest or in canoes. They pounced on us so swiftly that -we were practically swamped by them in an instant. They at once began to -beg for presents, to touch and smell any of the articles belonging to us -that they could, and they certainly would have taken everything had it -been possible. - -The men were all in the primitive attire of the proud Indian whom we had -been unable to press into our service a few days before. The women wore -tunics made either from coarse cotton stuffs obtained from the traders, -or from a sort of bark, pliant and fairly soft, called _marimba_. Some -of the women were accompanied by two or three children. - -With the tribe—for it was a whole tribe that had fallen upon us—came a -man dressed in trousers—the regulation article such as you may see in -any civilized capital—and a woollen shirt of a deep red hue. He was the -chief of the tribe, and had donned that garb in our honour. - -The captain told Leal that the various mothers who had brought their -children were anxious to have them baptized. Leal replied that the -matter would be attended to on our return trip, arguing furthermore that -the three reverend missionaries should not be disturbed as they lay in -their hammocks, for though, had they been ordinary men, they might be -thought to be asleep, yet being persons of eminent piety it was more -probable that they were entranced in meditation. Leal backed his plea -with a gift, a most wonderful argument which carries conviction to wild -Indians almost as quickly as to civilized men. The chief did not insist, -and for the moment we were left to our pseudo-religious and silent -contemplations. - -Shortly after, however, an Indian mother, with one child in her arms and -two in her wake, proved obdurate and relentless. Her thirst for the -baptismal waters—at least, on behalf of her children if not of -herself—must be slaked at all costs. All Leal’s efforts proving -fruitless, he ended by telling her that I was the chief missionary. Once -recognised as a pillar of the Church, I was prepared for any sacrifice -of self, so that on the Indian woman approaching me I got ready to -perform whatever ceremony she might want to the best of my ability. She -was not only prudent and cautious, but distrustful. She pulled my hat -off, and ran her fingers swiftly through my hair. On seeing that I had -no tonsure—her mimic was as clear as speech—she flung my hat violently -on the ground, gesticulated and shouted, attracting the attention of all -her companions. - -Here was a complication for which we had not bargained. If there were -great advantages in our being taken for missionaries, there was also -great danger in being exposed as sham missionaries. Something must be -done to remedy the evil. Leal at once bethought himself of an expedient; -he took the Indian woman towards the hammock where Alex slept in sweet -oblivion, unconscious of what was going on around him. She at once -dragged off his hat, and on finding a head brilliantly bald almost fell -prostrate. Hierarchy, or what in her savage mind stood for it, evidently -grew higher with the size of the tonsure, and here the tonsure was -immense. Had she known the various dignities into which the Catholic -priesthood is divided, she might have taken Alex for the Pope. Be that -as it may, she was satisfied. Alex, on being informed, swallowed the -pill gracefully, and prepared to do his duty. - -The woman brought forward her smallest child. Here again new -difficulties ensued. We held a council of consultation as to the _modus -operandi_. Opinions differed widely, and were supported vehemently, as -is sure to be the case when all those discussing a given subject happen -to be equally ignorant. Finally some sort of plan was adopted, and the -child was baptized in accordance with a rite evolved from our own dim -recollections, with such modifications as seemed most fit. - -There under the blue heaven, with the broad winding river at our feet, -close by the dense, darkening forest that lay behind us, its branches -overhead forming a panoply of green, studded with the gold and yellow -and blue flowers of the numerous creepers, we performed the ceremony of -baptism, initiating the young savage into the Church of Christ our Lord -with a feeling of deep reverence, intensified by our own sense of -ignorance. Let us hope that the solemnity of the act, which flashed -before us like an unexpected revelation, compensated for any involuntary -informality. - -But after the water had been poured on the babe’s head, and the ceremony -had, as we thought, come to an end, the mother would not take her child -back. She had evidently seen other baptisms, and our christening was not -up to her standard. She made us understand that on former occasions -‘book reading’ had taken place: such was Leal’s interpretation of her -words. - -We had come to look upon this Indian woman as an expert critic. Through -unpardonable neglect, which to this day I cannot explain satisfactorily, -we had neither a breviary nor a prayer-book with us, so we laid hands on -the next best thing, bearing in mind what a stickler for detail this -Indian woman had proved to be. A book of poems, an anthology of Spanish -poets, gilt-edged and finely bound, stood us in good service. Alex -opened it at random, and read a short poem with due and careful -elocution for the edification of the new little Christian. - -The ceremony had to be performed eight or ten times. After the third -child we gave them only one stanza apiece, as our ardour was somewhat -chilled. - -When all the children had been christened, the chief claimed the ‘usual’ -gifts. He soon explained to us that it was customary for the -missionaries to make presents to the parents of the children newly -baptized. I had begun to admire the zeal of these mothers in quest of a -higher religion for their children; this demand showed that their -fervour was accompanied by greed, being thus of the same nature as that -species of ‘charity with claws’—the Spanish _caridad con uñas_. Trifles -were distributed amongst the mothers, and the tribe disappeared, -rejoicing in their possessions, for to these folk the things were no -trifles, and, let us hope, exultant in the acquisition of eight or ten -buds destined to bloom into Christian flowers. - -History doth indeed repeat itself, and humanity imitates humanity -heedless of time and space. If I remember rightly, Clovis, justly -anxious for the conversion of his legions to Christianity, presented -each dripping warrior after baptism with a tunic—a most valuable article -in those days, when Manchester looms did not exist and all weaving was -done by hand. Those pious paladins, it is said, were like our Indian -friends of the Vichada, always ready to be rechristened on the same -terms as before—that is to say, in exchange for a new tunic. Yet, for -all their sameness, things do somehow change with time. In these two -instances we have the Church as a donor, and the new proselyte as a -receiver of presents more or less valuable. Once the conversion fully -assured, what a change in the parts within a few generations! The Church -gives naught; at least, it gives nothing that is of this world. On the -contrary, it takes all it can; the people are led to heaven, the poorer -the easier, for in the kind and capacious bosom of Mother Church they -are to deposit all worldly goods which might hamper their flight to -higher regions. A beautiful and wonderful evolution, and we had not far -to go to see it in full play and force. The savages of the Colombian -plains are still in that primitive pitiful state when they have to be -bribed, so to say, into the fold of the Church; many of the civilized -people in the towns and cities obey and respect that Church which holds -sway supreme over them in life and in death, guiding, controlling, -saving them. Happy the nations where the chosen and appointed servants -of the Most High, disciplined into some sort of priesthood or other, -undertake the pleasing task of saving their reluctant fellow-men at the -latter’s expense, but with the sure and certain faith of those who know -that they are working for justice and for the happiness of their -fellows, though these may choose to deny it. Happy, thrice happy, lands -where the invasion of diabolical modern ideas has been baffled, and the -good old doctrine of abject submission still rules! - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - -Whenever we started afresh in the morning, or after any temporary halt, -the man at the prow of the canoe would call out, ‘_Vaya con Dios_,’ and -the man on the stern, who steered with a paddle far larger than the -others, would reply, ‘_y con la Virgen_’ (‘God go with us,’ ‘and the -Virgin,’ respectively). The fair Queen of Heaven, being thus -commemorated, piety was wedded to chivalry. - -The days followed each other in seemingly endless succession, like the -windings of the river. Familiarity with the ever-varying aspects of -Nature begot a sense of monotony and weariness. The forests and the -prairies, dawn and sunset, the whole marvellous landscape, passed -unheeded. We longed to reach the main artery; the Orinoco was our Mecca, -apparently unattainable. Fishing and hunting had lost zest, and become -simple drudgery, indispensable to renew our provender, as in the long -journey nearly all our stores were exhausted. - -Raoul and Leal frequently shot at the alligators, which, singly, in -couples, or in shoals, basked in the sun in a sort of gluttonous -lethargy, with hanging tongues and half-closed eyes. The huge saurians, -when hit, would turn over and make for the water, except on rare -occasions when the bullet entered below the shoulder-blade, this being a -mortal wound. - -We would sit listening to the even stroke of the paddles on the sides of -the canoe and the drowsy sing-song of the men. - -Frequently, towards sundown, we heard the deep note of tigers in the -forest, and always the confused uproar of a thousand animals, frogs, -crickets, birds, ushering in the night. - -Besides alligators and wild-boar, the only other large animals which we -frequently saw were the harmless tapirs. - -Snakes are not abundant on the Vichada, yet it was on the shores of that -river that we came to quite close quarters with a water-snake of the boa -constrictor species. The reptile was found coiled not far from our -halting-place. Raoul at once fired his fowling-piece at short range, -blinding and wounding it. He then discharged the five bullets of his -revolver into the snake, and the men completed the work, beating it with -their paddles. When stretched out, it measured some 16 feet in length, -and was of corresponding thickness. - -These snakes, though not poisonous, are dangerous if hungry. They lurk -at the drinking-places, and when a young calf, deer, or any other small -animal comes within reach, they coil themselves round it and strangle -it. They devour their prey slowly, and then fall into a sleep, which is -said to last for several days. - -In all probability, the snake we had killed must have been at the end of -one of these periods. Much to our astonishment, notwithstanding bullets -and blows, the snake began to move in the direction of our hammocks. Had -this not been seen in time, it might possibly have coiled itself around -some unwary sleeper. More blows were administered, and this time the -animal seemed quite dead. However, it managed to roll into the river, -and on striking the water appeared to revive. - -This was our only meeting face to face with a denizen of these forests -and rivers, and I can truly say we longed for no closer acquaintance -with them. - -For obvious reasons of prudence, we soon made up our minds never to -pitch our night camp on beaches easy of access to the Indians settled -along the shores, but during the day we would frequently halt at their -settlements, and this enabled us to see a good deal of their mode of -life and peculiarities. - -We found the tribes docile and friendly, rather inclined to be -industrious in their way than otherwise. - -The Indians of the Vichada basin are the bakers, if I may so call them, -of that great region. The bread which they prepare is made from the -_mañoc_, or _yuca_, root, which grows in plenty along the banks of -rivers and streams. There are two kinds of _mañoc_, one sweet and -harmless, the other bitter and poisonous, yet it is from this latter -kind that the _casabe_ is prepared. The root, varying in length from 2 -to 3 feet, with a thickness of from 1 to 3 inches, is grated on -specially-prepared boards of very hard wood. Thus a whitish pulp is -obtained, which is then compressed in a most primitive manner. A hollow -cylinder, made of matting of coarse and pliant straw, varying in length -from 4 to 6, and sometimes 8, feet, and in diameter from 5 inches -upwards, is filled with the pulp, sausage-wise. The cylinder is then -hung from the branch of a tree, or a beam conveniently upraised on a -frame; it is then stretched and twisted from below. The juice of the -pulp flows through the mesh of the matting. When all the juice has been -extracted, the pulp is emptied into large wooden basins, and is soaked -in water, which is run off, the operation being repeated several times. -The poisonous element, soluble in water, is thus eliminated, and the -pulp is ready. It is then spread on a slab of stone, thin and perfectly -even, called _budare_, which stands over a fire. The _casabe_ is soon -baked, generally in round cakes from 12 to 18 inches in diameter, and -from half an inch to an inch in thickness. After baking it is stored in -special baskets, called _mapires_, where it can be kept for months, as -it stands all weathers and is impervious to moisture. It has the taste -and the consistency of sawdust, and hunger must be very keen for any -novice to relish the food. Yet it is most nutritious, and after a while -replaces biscuit and bread, especially when these are not to be found! -Not only the Indians, but even the white men, or those who call -themselves civilized in that vast region, use _casabe_ exclusively. -Wheat flour is soon spoiled in that hot, damp atmosphere, where there -are no facilities for protecting it against moisture and vermin, and -though corn might be abundantly produced, there are no mills to grind -the meal. Population is so scarce, and the few inhabitants are so far -apart, that it would not pay to set up the necessary machinery. Nature -seems to overwhelm man, who drifts back easily into primitive conditions -of being. - -The Indians also prepare _mañoc_ flour. The method is the same as in the -case of _casabe_, only that before baking the pulp is allowed to ferment -to a certain degree; after that it is baked and reduced to powder. This -powder, mixed with water, makes an acid, refreshing drink. If sugar or -molasses be available, they are added. - -As I have said before, the Vichada Indians are expert weavers of -hammocks, and carvers or makers of canoes. They fell a large tree, and, -after months of labour, produce very fine canoes. The canoes, the -hammocks, and the _casabe_ and _mañoc_ are sold to traders who realize -large profits. A pair of trousers and a hat to the captain of a tribe -are deemed a good price for a small canoe. Such articles as a cutlass, -or an axe, are most highly prized by the Indians, and are paid for -accordingly. It is pitiful to learn how these poor savages are cheated, -when not robbed outright, by the pseudo-Christians who come in contact -with them. - -They also manufacture torches from resinous substances extracted from -the forests. Some of these substances are excellent for caulking -purposes, and, as they are found in great abundance, should constitute -an important article of trade. A torch made from _peraman_ about 3 to 4 -feet in length, lighted as night set in, would burn with a brilliant -yellow flame, and throw a strong glare over the camp in the small hours -when the bonfires had been reduced to embers. - -We had been on the Vichada about twenty-five days, when one of us -developed symptoms of fever, and as these increased within the next -twenty-four hours, we looked about for some convenient spot where we -might rest for a few days, lest the attack might become really serious. -It was our intention to build up some sort of hut—a comparatively easy -matter, as some of our men were old hands at that kind of work. -Fortunately for us, however, we met coming from the mouth of the Vichada -a Venezuelan _mañoc_ trader, who was sailing to one of the Vichada -affluents, where he expected to receive a load of _mañoc_ and _casabe_. -The man’s name was Valiente. He had three canoes and ten men with him. -We were delighted to meet him, as it had been impossible for us to -gather correct information from the Indians. - -He told us that we were still two or three days’ journey from the -Orinoco, advised us not to put up at any of the beaches, but to push on -to within a few hours of the mouth of the Vichada, where, on the left -bank, we would find an abandoned _caney_ that had been built by -cattle-ranchers some years previously. He had just been there. It was -possible, he added, that we might find some Indians in possession, in -which case we should enforce the right of the white man and drive them -out. At any rate, the _caney_ was on high ground, the forests around -were clear, and we should find it far more comfortable than anywhere -else in that neighbourhood. - -Following his advice, we hurried on as fast as we could, promising to -wait for him at Santa Catalina, that being the name of the place. -Valiente thought that he would start back in six or eight days. - -In due course we reached Santa Catalina. On the high bluff, about 300 -yards from the shore, we saw the welcome outlines of a _caney_; it -showed unmistakable signs of having been built by white men. We could -see from the river that it was inhabited. This was not so pleasant, but -we had made up our minds that we would take possession of the _caney_ -with or without the consent of its occupants. If soft words proved -insufficient, we were bound to appeal to the last argument of Kings and -of men at bay—force. - -I really did not feel inclined to violence; peaceful means and -diplomatic parleying seemed to me preferable, but as we had no choice, -following the practice sanctioned by experience, of preparing for war if -you want to insure peace, we decided to make a great display of force, -even as the Great Powers, with their military and naval manœuvres—a show -of teeth and claws to overawe the occupants of the _caney_. - -We moored on the bank near by. Notwithstanding my appearance, which, as -I have chronicled in these pages, had warranted the belief in others -that I belonged to the holiest of human professions, I was told off to -ascertain whether we should occupy the premises peacefully or by force. -I donned a red shirt, suspended from a broad leather belt a most -murderous-looking cutlass and a six-shooter, cocked my hat sideways in a -desperado fashion, and, full of ardour, advanced, flanked on either side -by Leal and one of our men, each of whom carried a rifle and the -inevitable _machete_. Verily, we looked like a wandering arsenal! - -Remembering that the actor’s success is said to be greater the more he -lives up to his part, I endeavoured to look as fierce as possible, and -tried to call to mind scenes of dauntless courage, assaults of -fortresses, heroic deeds from my historical repertory. I must have -succeeded, for I felt uncommonly brave, particularly as there seemed to -be no danger warranting our preparations. - -Unfortunately, I happen to be afflicted with myopia, which at a certain -distance blurs the outline of objects large or small. - -As we continued to advance I could distinguish that someone was coming -towards us. My courage evaporated; I felt sure that this must be some -hostile Indian intent on hindering our access to the longed-for _caney_. -I would fain have turned tail, but vanity, which is the source of -nine-tenths of the displays of human courage, pricked me on. My ears -awaited the wild whoop of the advancing Indian, and my eyes were -prepared to witness the onslaught of his ferocious braves from the -neighbouring bushes. Yet the die was cast, and forward we went. - -Imagine my surprise when, from the approaching figure, still indistinct -and vague to my short-sighted eyes, a greeting of the utmost courtesy in -the purest Castilian rang forth in the air of the clear afternoon. I -shall never forget it. Those words in my native tongue, uttered in the -midst of that wilderness, 500 leagues from the nearest town or civilized -settlement, conjured up in one moment cherished memories of a distant -world. - -Greatly relieved, I put aside my weapons of assault and destruction, -which, to speak the truth, were most inconvenient to walk in. - -I knew before, and am more convinced than ever since that day, that I am -not compounded of the clay of heroes: in which I am like the rest of the -world. Peace and peaceful avocations are much more in my line. I love -heroes—military ones especially—in books, in pictures, or in statues; as -every-day companions, I believe—not having met any heroes in the -flesh—that they must be unbearable. They really owe it to themselves to -get killed or to die the moment they have attained their honours. They -are sure to be ruined if left to the vulgarizing influences of daily -life, mixing with the rest of humanity in every-day toil and strife. You -cannot have your bust or portrait in Parliament or Assembly, your niche -in the cathedral or in public hall, and your equestrian statue with your -horse eternally lifting his fore-legs for the edification of coming -generations, and at the same time insist on walking about the streets in -the guise of a commonplace mortal! If you live in bronze and marble, if -your name fills half a column of the encyclopædia, and appears as a -noble example in the books in which children are taught to consider -brutal violence the highest evolution of human intellect and action, you -cannot ask your humble companions on earth to put up with you in their -midst. Heroes should find their places, and stick to them, for their own -greater glory and the comfort of their fellow-men. - -The gentleman whom we met was named Aponte, and came from Caracas, the -capital of Venezuela. He had been appointed to the governorship of the -Amazon Territory. After spending several years in its capital, San -Carlos, he became afflicted with cataract. People told him that the -Vichada Indians cured cataract with the juice of certain herbs, which -they kept secret. He had arrived at Santa Catalina about ten days before -us, accompanied by his sister and a young Corsican who had been in his -employ at San Carlos. An Indian woman from one of the tribes had taken -him in charge, and made daily applications of some milky juice extracted -from plants, and, strange to say, he found relief. I have since heard -that he is completely cured. - -An occulist, who travelled through those regions two or three years -later, investigated the truth of these alleged cures, and found them to -be authentic. He could not, however, induce the Indians to tell him what -they use. This knowledge of the virtue of plants amongst the Indians is -found in nearly all tropical lands. Quinine, to which humanity owes so -much, was also an Indian secret, and was discovered by a well-known -combination of circumstances. Towards the middle of the eighteenth -century, in one of the Peruvian States, the Indians were treated very -cruelly by their masters. The daughter of the house won the love of the -Indian slaves by her kindness and charity. It had been noticed that no -Indians died from malarial and other fevers, which proved fatal to the -white men, but what means they employed could not be learned either by -threats or entreaties. - -The daughter of the cruel master was taken ill. Her nurse, an Indian -woman, gave her some concoction which saved her life, but would not -reveal the secret for years. On her deathbed she told her young mistress -what plant it was that the Indians employed against fever. Thus the -_cinchona_, or Peruvian bark, was discovered. In the Choco regions in -Colombia, which teem with snakes, the Indians know not only the plants -that cure the bite and counteract the poison, but those which confer -immunity. They also have a combination of substances forming a sort of -paste, which, when applied to the wounds and ulcers of man or animal, -however sore they may be, exercise a healing and immediate action. - -I had an uncle, Dr. Triana, well known to European botanists, and -especially to collectors of orchids, to several varieties of which his -name is linked (the numerous varieties of _Catleya trianensis_ are named -after him). He lived for a long time in the Choco region, and brought -back large quantities of this paste, which he used with success in cases -of wounds and ulcers, both in Europe and America, but he could never -persuade the Indians to tell him its exact composition. - -The young Corsican whom we found with Mr. Aponte was a sort of -globe-trotter, jack-of-all-trades, hail-fellow-well-met with everybody. -He was an explorer, a dentist, could serve as barber if required, had -acted as clerk to Mr. Aponte, had with him a fairly well-stocked -medicine-chest, and proved to be a first-rate cook. He either knew -something of medicine or made up for ignorance by his daring. At any -rate, he took our sick companion in hand, administered to him some of -his drugs, and in two or three days restored him to perfect health. This -was a great blessing. Thus disappeared from our horizon the only ominous -cloud which darkened it during those days of so much sunlight and -freedom. Those who know not what tropical fevers are can form no idea of -the dread that their presence inspires when one sees them stealthily -gaining ground. At times they act slowly, and give one a chance of -struggling against them, but often they develop with lightning rapidity, -and a man in full health and in the bloom of life is cut down suddenly -in a few days or in a few hours. - -Figarella was the name of the Corsican ‘doctor’ who enlivened the few -days we spent at Santa Catalina with his songs, his tales of Corsica, -the narrative of his adventures, true and fanciful, in all parts of the -world, and who managed to prepare sumptuous dinners with turtle eggs, -wild-boar meat, fresh fish, and other ingredients, picked up the Lord -only knows where. I often had qualms that he must be drawing too freely -on his medicine-chest, but the dishes proved palatable, and as we -survived from day to day we have nothing but thanks and gratitude to the -friend whom we met in the midst of those wilds, with whom our lives came -in contact for a few days, who then remained behind to work out his own -destiny, as we ours, even as two ships that sight each other for a -moment in mid-ocean and then both disappear. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - -Friend Valiente turned up at Santa Catalina, his canoes laden with -_mañoc_ and _casabe_, two days after our arrival. - -Though the ranch had been abandoned for some time, stray cattle, more or -less wild, roamed about the neighbourhood. Leal and Valiente soon -lassoed a fine heifer, which, slaughtered without delay, replenished our -commissariat. We celebrated a banquet like that held on New Year’s Day -at San Pedro del Tua. We still had a little coffee, but of rum, which -had then formed such an attraction, only the fragrant memory remained. -Its place was supplied with what was left of our last demijohn of -aniseed _aguardiente_. - -As Valiente intended following the same route, we decided to wait for -him. He knew that part of the Vichada and the Orinoco well. There were -several small rapids which it was not advisable to cross without a -pilot. - -Two days after leaving Santa Catalina we struck the Orinoco, with a -feeling of boundless joy. It seemed to us as if we had reached the open -ocean, and the air itself appeared purer, more charged with invigorating -oxygen. - -After a short spin from the mouth of the Vichada, we reached Maipures, -where Venezuelan authorities were stationed. Knowing that Venezuelans, -as a rule, are inclined to be less reverent and respectful towards the -Church and its servants than the average Colombian, we abandoned our -ecclesiastical character, dropping it, as Elias dropped his mantle upon -earth, on the waters of the Vichada, where it had done us such good -service. - -It was indispensable that we should find a pilot for the rapids. It -seems that in former days the Venezuelan Government kept two or three -pilots at Maipures, but we found to our sorrow that they had disappeared -long since. However, not far from Maipures we were told that we should -find a man named Gatiño, one of the best pilots on the river. We at once -started in quest of him, and found him in the thick of the forest about -a mile from the shore. He was gathering tonga beans, and had formed a -little camp, accompanied by his family, which consisted of his wife, two -children, a boy and girl of fourteen and twelve respectively, and two -smaller children of five and six. He agreed to take us across the -rapids, provided we would wait at Maipures until he could pack his beans -and gather some india-rubber extracted by himself. As there was no help -for it, we agreed to wait. Maipures turned out to be nothing but a group -of some fifteen or twenty tumble-down, rickety houses, inhabited by -about a score of people, amongst them the prefect or political -representative of the Government. He received us most cordially, and -placed one of the buildings at our service. I believe both Valiente and -Leal gave him to understand that we were high and mighty personages -representing the Colombian Government on a tour of inspection through -the lands awarded to Colombia by a recent decision in a case of -arbitration between the two republics, handed down by the Queen of -Spain. Maipures, where the functionary in question was supreme, came -within the new jurisdiction, and possibly the belief that we might -exercise some influence in maintaining him in his important office may -have had to do with his courtesy and goodwill towards us. It was lucky, -however, that such an impression was created. Shortly after our arrival -he informed us that the Governor of the Amazon territory had just -communicated to him orders to prevent all travellers on the river from -ascending or descending the stream—in a word, to keep them as prisoners -at Maipures. On reading the Governor’s note to us, he argued, ‘This -cannot apply to you, for, being Colombians, you are outside the -Governor’s jurisdiction.’ Here, again, as when conferring ecclesiastical -dignity upon us, Leal had acted with prudence and foresight. - -At Maipures we felt, as we never felt before or after during the -journey, the presence of the numerous insects, and noticed that these -winged creatures worked with method and discipline. The _puyon_ sounded -the charge shortly after sunset, attacking without haste and without -rest during the whole night. At dawn it would retire to camp, sated with -our gore. The post of honour was taken by the sand-flies, which would -remain on duty during the earlier part of the forenoon. In their turn -they were replaced by some other arm of the service during the hot hours -of the day, and so on till nightfall, when the _puyon_, refreshed and -eager, would again fall upon his prey. There is no greater regularity in -the change of guards at a fortress than is observed by these insects in -their war upon men and animals. - -The mosquito-net was the only real protection. Some relief is obtained -by filling the room with smoke from smouldering horse or cattle manure, -but the nauseous smell and the ammonia fumes made the remedy worse than -the evil. We also feared to share the fate of herrings and other fish -subject to the process, and preferred the seclusion of our -mosquito-bars. - -These, however, were all minor troubles, mentioned here as a matter of -record. From our temporary abode we could hear the distant thunder of -the rapids, as of batteries of cannon in a great artillery duel. The -waters of the Orinoco, suddenly twisted into a narrow bed, wrestle with -the boulders of granite scattered in the channel, which they have frayed -through the very heart of the huge basaltic mountains. - -Life in those regions, from what we gathered, is as wild, as untamed, -and irresponsible as the rivers or forests, and as the animals that roam -in them. Violence and force are the only law, greed is the sole guiding -principle, amongst men. The functionaries in most cases are only -authorized robbers and slayers. The Indians, being the most helpless -victims, are plundered and murdered, as best suits the fancy of those -representatives of organized Governments, whose crimes remain hidden -behind the dense veil of interminable forests. - -When news of any of these misdeeds does chance to reach the official -ear, the facts are so distorted on the one hand, and there is so little -desire to investigate on the other, that no redress is ever obtained. - -Whilst at Maipures there came in a man from San Carlos, the capital of -one of the Amazon territories. He told a gruesome story. The Governor of -that province, whom he represented as a prototype of the official -robbers just mentioned, had exasperated his companions by his -all-absorbing greed. The Governor seized all the tonga beans and -india-rubber extracted by the poor Indians, who were forced to work -without any pay, unfed, whip-driven. His companions, who expected a -share in the plunder, conspired to murder him. He was known to be -fearless and an admirable shot. One night, however, his house was -surrounded by a score or so of his followers; a regular siege ensued; -the young Governor kept his assailants at bay for several hours. He was -accompanied by a young Spanish ballet-dancer, who had followed his -fortunes undaunted by the dangers of that wild land. She would reload -the guns whilst he scanned the ground from the only window of the room. -One of the assailants crept upon the roof of the house and shot him from -behind. He died in a few hours. The canoes laden with all kinds of -produce despatched by him—not down the Orinoco, for he feared they might -be seized on the long journey through Venezuelan territory, but through -the Casiquiare to the Amazon—were said to be worth £40,000 or £50,000. -Even if not accurate in all its details, which I repeat from the -statement of the new arrival at Maipures, this instance gives an idea of -the conditions that prevail in those localities. - -True to his word, Gatiño turned up at Maipures on the third day, and we -continued our journey at once. - -The rapids of the Orinoco break the open current of the river for a -distance of some forty or fifty miles. The Maipures rapids are from five -to six miles in length. The river then continues its quiet flow for -about twenty or twenty-five miles down to the rapids of Atures; thence -it flows to the ocean without any further obstacle of importance. - -Gatiño had his own canoe of a special type, much larger than ours, very -deep, heavy, capacious, and comfortable. It was the real home of his -family. - -I asked him why he did not settle somewhere on the banks of those -rivers. He told me that both on the Orinoco and on the affluents there -were numberless spots on high ground, free from all floods, abundant in -game, within easy reach of good fishing, healthy and cool, where he -would fain settle. ‘But we poor wretches,’ he added, ‘have no rights. -When we least expect it, up turns a fine gentleman sent by some -Government or other with a few soldiers; they lift our cattle and steal -our chickens, destroy what they do not take away, and compel us to -accompany them, paddling their canoes or serving them as they may want -without any pay. Whenever I hear,’ he went on to say, ‘that white men in -authority are coming along the river, I start immediately in my canoe -through the _caños_ as far inland as I can. The wild Indians and the -savages are kind and generous; it is the whites and the whites in -authority who are to be dreaded.’ - -Gatiño was himself a full-blooded Indian, but, having been brought up on -some settlement, he considered himself a civilized man, and in truth it -was strange to see how he practised the highest virtues of an honest -man. He loved his wife and family tenderly; he worked day and night for -their welfare. He longed for a better lot for his children, the eldest -of whom ‘studied’ at the city of San Fernando de Atabapo, the only city -which he knew of by personal experience. As it consists of eighty or a -hundred thatch-roofed houses, one may well imagine what the word ‘city’ -implied in his case; yet his thoughts were constantly centred on the -learning which that child was storing to the greater honour and -happiness of his wandering family. Reading and writing formed the -curriculum of that university, possibly because they marked the limit of -the teacher’s attainments; but let us be ashamed of mocking the humble -annals of so good a man. - -I cannot forbear mentioning an incident, a parallel to which it would be -difficult to find amongst nominally civilized folk. One of our men who -had accompanied us from San Pedro de Arimena, knowing our plight and our -dependence on Gatiño, took him aside, informing him that we had plenty -of gold, and that as one of us was ill, and we desired to reach the open -river as soon as possible, it would be easy for him to name his price. -He suggested that Gatiño should charge one or two thousand dollars for -the job, which we would be bound to pay. Gatiño not only did not improve -that wonderful opportunity, but he forbore from telling us of the advice -given to him. He charged us 100 dollars, a moderate price for the work, -and it was only when on the other side of the rapids that Leal learned -the incident from the other men. - -Here was a test which not many men brought up in the midst of civilized -life could have withstood. - -Gatiño and his family will ever remain in my mind as a bright, cheerful -group. Alas for them, lost in those solitudes amongst wild beasts and -wild Indians, and subject to the voracity of the white men, who become -more ferocious than the worst tiger when their unbridled greed has no -responsibility and no punishment to dread! - -We had three canoes (including Gatiño’s) to take down. We were obliged -to empty them completely. The men carried everything on their backs -along the shore, whilst the canoes shot the rapids. - -When I saw Gatiño on the first rapids, I believed him to be bent on -suicide. At that point the river, cut and divided by the rocks, left a -narrow channel of about 300 feet in length close in to the shore. Thus -far the canoes had been dragged by the current and held by means of -ropes. On reaching the channel, Gatiño manned the canoe with four men at -the prow, and sat at the stern. The canoe, still tied by the rope, which -was held by four men, was kept back as much as possible from the -current, which increased in speed at every inch. At the end of the -channel the whole river poured its foaming volume into a huge, cup-like -basin, studded with rocks, where the water seethed as if boiling. From -the basin the river flowed on placidly for several miles. This was the -end of the first rapids. - -Halfway down the channel the men let go the ropes, and the canoe, with -its crew, seemed like a huge black feather upon a sea of foam, and the -whole length of the channel, white and frothy, appeared like the arched -neck of a gigantic horse curved to drink from the waters below. The -waters, before entering the basin, formed a small cataract shooting over -the protruding ledge. The canoe fell into the basin, and seemed about to -be dashed against a rock that stood in its way. On again striking the -waters, Gatiño gave the word of command, and the four men began to -paddle steadily and with great force, as if to increase the impetus. -Gatiño remained quiet and motionless in his place, holding his paddle -out of the water ready to strike. At a given moment he uplifted it, -thrust it deeply into the waves, and moved it dexterously, so that the -canoe turned as if on a pivot, and quietly glided along the rock upon -which it would have been dashed into a thousand pieces. - -Gatiño explained to me that it was necessary for the men to paddle so as -to give the canoe her own share in the impetus, and make it more -responsive to his steering. - -Though he assured me that there was no danger, and though the journey -along the shore was tiresome and slow, I did not venture to accompany -him when shooting the other rapids before reaching the open river. - -The Orinoco has drilled an open passage-way through a spur of the -mountains at Maipures. The struggle between the waters and the rocks -must have lasted centuries. - -‘Here shalt thou halt,’ said the rock. - -‘Further will I go,’ replied the river. - -Like the spoils of battle on a stricken field, the shattered rocks stud -the current, which sweeps roaring and foaming around and over them. They -resemble the ruins in the breach of a battered bastion. The river is the -victor, but, as will happen when two great forces counteract each other, -the result is a compromise, and the course of the stream is deviated. -The difference of level from the beginning to the end of the rapids is -in itself not sufficient to cause the violence with which the waters -run. It arises from the sudden compression of the powerful volume of -waters into a narrow space. The waters rush through the openings made in -the rock with a deafening sound, torn by the remnants of pillars in the -bed through which they pass. They fill the air with the tumult of their -advance; one would say an army was entering a conquered city, quivering -with the rapture of triumph, lifting up the thunder of battle, Titanic -bugle-calls, and the pæans of victory. After each one of these narrow -breaches in the wall of granite the river plunges into deep basins, -where the foaming waters soon sink into their former quiet flow. The -soldiers have crossed the first entrenchments, and collect their forces -before the next assault. Soon the margins on either side begin to hem -in, the waters stir more rapidly, and soon again the mad rush, the -desperate plunge, the wild, roaring, irresistible onslaught, and again -through the very heart of the mountain into the next basin. Finally, -after storming the last redoubt, the river, like a lion freed from the -toils which imprisoned him, leaps upon the bosom of the plain, bounding -forward in solemn flow towards the ocean. The clear tropical sun -reflects itself on its ever-moving bosom, even as the clouds and the -forests, the mountains and the birds on wing. The wandering mirror keeps -on its course, being, as Longfellow has it, like unto the life of a good -man ‘darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven.’ - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - -We spent ten days in covering the distance from the upper to beyond the -lower rapids, walking whenever it was impossible to use the canoes, -which were drifted by the current or shot over the rapids. The delay was -due chiefly to the loading and unloading of the canoes, and the -necessarily slow transportation of packages, bundles, and sundry -articles along the shore. - -The banks of the river on either side along the whole length of the -rapids are high and rocky, sometimes extending for a mile or two in -flat, grass-covered, wavy meadows, and then rising in small hills, -abrupt and ragged on the very edge of the water. This is specially the -case in the narrow part of the gorges. The grass in the small -meadow-like plains is the same as on the shores of the Meta, and the -whole aspect of the region, bare of large forests, is that of a field in -a civilized country. - -A few days after leaving Maipures we noticed, to our joy, the absence of -mosquitoes and other such tormentors. They seemed to have been blown -away by the wind, which had freer scope in the more open stretches along -the main river. - -We missed the soft couch of the sand beaches to which we had become -accustomed, the thin layer of sand or earth being powerless to soften -the bed-rock on which we now had to stretch ourselves, but the flight of -the mosquitoes and their companions more than made up for this. - -Our commissariat had dwindled to utter meagreness; we had neither sugar -nor coffee, and _casabe_ was our only bread. The last drops of -_aguardiente_ had been drained at Santa Catalina. At Maipures we had -obtained a drink which they called white rum—in truth, pure alcohol, -which we had to drown in three times the quantity of water before we -swallowed it. Our cigars, cigarettes and tobacco were all gone; they -were part and parcel of an enchanted past—smoke wafted heavenward like -so many of our hopes and illusions. We had obtained native tobacco, with -which we made cigars or rolled cigarettes out of newspaper clippings. -Thus we consumed many a literary article or political effusion which it -would have been utterly impossible to utilize in any other way. Corn-cob -pipes also came in handily. - -Game, furred or feathered, was not to be found on the shores of the -rapids; we had to rely principally on fishing, which was most abundant -in the quieter pools and basins. We ate all sorts of fish, some of -admirable quality, especially the _morrocoto_, far superior to the -French sole or the American shad, blue fish, or Spanish mackerel. If -Marguery could meet with it, his immense renown would increase tenfold, -as with this fish at his disposal he would be certain to evolve what -from a culinary point of view would amount to an epic poem of the most -sublime order. Such, at least, was my opinion when eating that fish, -with my imagination duly fired by a voracious appetite and a lack of -material condiments which gave rise to dreams worthy of Lucullus in -exile. - -Rice and salt we had in plenty; butter, oil, and lard were unknown -quantities. Had we been in Lent, necessity would have enabled us very -easily to observe the ordinance of the Roman Church with regard to -abstinence from meat. We thought of this, and although we were not sure -of our dates, we at once decided to offer up our enforced diet in a -truly Catholic spirit in atonement for some of our many sins! May our -offering prove acceptable! - -We did not go to sleep as readily on our new hard beds as on the sand. -The clearness of the air and freedom from insects also contributed to -long watches, which we spent in listening to the far-off roar of the -river pealing incessantly through the night air, whilst Gatiño would -tell us about the life of men and beasts in those territories. The voice -of the river seemed like the distant bass of a powerful orchestra, all -the high notes of which had been lost in space. - -Gatiño was familiar with the rivers that flow into the Orinoco above its -confluence with the Vichada, and the numerous _caños_ which intersect -that region were so well known to him that on one occasion, when flying -from some Governor on his way to the upper territories who was anxious -to obtain his services as a guide, Gatiño had managed to lose himself in -such an intricate maze of _caños_ and water-ways, and, finally, in a -small lagoon, unknown to all except the wild Indians, that the Governor -had given up the chase in despair. He had travelled on the Casiquiare -and the Rio Negro, and had visited the Upper Amazon. According to him, -the Upper Orinoco and its affluents are as abundant in india-rubber -forests as the Amazon and its tributaries, the Putumayo, the Napo and -the Yarabi. The gum or india-rubber is identical in quality with that of -the best species of Para. In some places the trees grow so closely that -a man may extract from twenty to forty pounds of india-rubber a day. -Besides large virgin areas rich in india-rubber forests, in other parts -_piazaba_ palm forests stretch for hundreds of acres at a time. This -_piazaba_ is used for matting, broom-making, and twisting of ropes and -cables. It is perfectly impervious to moisture, and is even said to -improve instead of rotting in water. Not far from where we were in one -of the _caños_, the _piazaba_ forest followed the water-course for a -distance of, Gatiño said, ‘twenty twists.’ An odd system of measuring, -but the only one at his command. ‘Twenty twists’ might be five or twenty -miles, according to the size of the curves. These forests further -contained infinite abundance of sarsaparilla, tonga bean, _peraman_ and -_caraña_, the resinous substances used for caulking and torch-making. -Gatiño himself exploited those sources of wealth as far as his own -personal means and limitations would allow him. He stated his -willingness at any time to guide us to the spots where rubber, tonga -bean, and so forth, could be found, adding that he knew we would treat -him well, but that he would never consent to act as a guide to others, -especially to the white men in official positions who now and then -appeared along the river. These he held in special abhorrence, and no -doubt their doings justified his feelings. - -Gatiño’s statements as to the wealth of the Orinoco were perfectly -truthful. It seems strange that such vast sources of wealth should -remain practically unexploited. The rapids of the Orinoco act as a -barrier, before which traders and explorers have come to a standstill. -Some sixty or seventy years ago cart-roads existed on the shores along -the rapids; these were built by the missionaries, and parts of them are -still intact. Vegetation being weak on the hard soil of those banks, it -would be easy to re-establish them. The great obstacle, however, is to -be found in the numerous affluents which fall into the Orinoco along the -rapids. The missionaries had large pontoon-like rafts on which they -transported their carts from one side to the other. Were this primitive -service started once more, the flow of natural products extracted from -the forests would soon establish itself from the Upper to the Lower -Orinoco. - -One day, having left our canoes behind, we arrived at the shores of the -Cantaniapo, a clear stream flowing into the Orinoco between two -stretches of rapids. No tree shaded us from the fierce glare of the sun. -The waters murmured most invitingly on the pebbles of the beach. On the -other side was a sort of shed, a vestige of former splendour. A small -canoe was moored alongside, tied with a _piazaba_ rope to the trunk of a -neighbouring tree. So near, and yet so far! We should have to wait, -perhaps, broiling in the sun for hours, till our canoes arrived. Whilst -we discussed the arduous architectural problem of building a tent with -such articles as coats, india-rubber waterproof sheets, and so on, a -noise as of a body falling into the water drew our attention to the -river. Leal, holding his _machete_ between his teeth, was swimming -_llanero_ fashion—that is to say, throwing each arm out of the water in -succession, and covering a distance equal to the length of his body at -every stroke. The peril, potentially speaking, was extreme; one never -knows whether the alligators and other inhabitants of those waters may -or may not be at hand. Yet Leal did not seem to care. Fortunately, he -soon landed on the opposite shore, jumped into the canoe, cut the rope -and paddled back. On our remonstrating with him, he argued that the -danger was slight; alligators hate noise, and he had taken care to be as -noisy as possible. - -‘Furthermore,’ he added, ‘I had my _machete_ with me.’ - -We stopped that night under the shed. Gatiño came in due time. We -particularly wished to bathe in the transparent waters of that river, -not as Leal had done, but in our usual prudent way, standing on the -shore far from all possible danger. - -The next morning we saw the only living tiger which met our eyes during -that long trip. Early, before striking the camp, the shout went forth—‘A -tiger! A tiger!’ There, at a distance of about 150 feet from us, on a -small protruding ledge which plunged into the river, forming a sort of -natural drinking-place, stood a beautiful specimen of the native tiger. -The wind, which, as Leal told us, blew from the land, carried the scent -in the wrong direction, and this explained the tiger’s visit. On hearing -the shout, Leal sprang up and seized one of the rifles. The tiger looked -towards our group and turned tail, bolting in the direction whence he -had come, behind a clump of bushes. Leal followed him. We soon heard a -shot, and after a few minutes Leal returned, disgusted. He had only -wounded the animal. I argued with him that we were most thankful to the -lord of the forest for his abrupt courtesy in leaving the field entirely -to us, as, had he felt inclined to enter into closer relations, we might -have found it awkward, to say the least. - -Valiente had come with Gatiño. Our belongings seemed to him, as they had -previously seemed to Leal, an abnormal accumulation of wealth. We had -kept with us, not knowing whether they might again be required, our -riding-saddles. My own was large, comfortable, and soft, a work of art -in its way. Valiente seemed to admire it. The remarks which he made -deserve to be noted here. - -‘This saddle is certainly very fine and comfortable; but how do you -manage when crossing a river? Do you not find it very heavy on your -head?’ - -I could not understand what he meant, until I remembered that the -_llaneros_, when swimming across a river, generally carry their saddles -on their heads to keep them dry. At first I thought Valiente was -‘pulling my leg.’ A mere glance at my person should suffice to persuade -anyone that not even the furious onslaught of a regiment of Cossacks -would induce me in any circumstances to plunge into a river where there -was a chance of meeting alligators and such-like; I was still less -likely to venture on such feats with the additional burden of a heavy -saddle on my head. However, Valiente was perfectly in earnest, and meant -no harm; so I assured him with perfect calm that I had never noticed on -any occasion, either in or out of the water, that the saddle was a heavy -one. - -‘Possibly,’ I added, ‘it is a question of habit.’ - -‘May be,’ he said, ‘but it would be a long time before I got used to it. -Look at my saddle!’ he went on to say; ‘it only weighs a fourth of -yours. Still, I should like to try yours, not for real hard -work—branding, lassoing, or rounding up cattle—but just to prance round -the town on a good horse and charm the girls. That’s about what it’s fit -for!’ - -That day, marked in the calendar of our memory as the ‘tiger day,’ our -supper consisted of boiled rice and _casabe_. Somehow or other there had -been no fishing. Yet we did not grumble; custom had taught us to be -easily satisfied. We learned from Gatiño that within twelve miles from -us the Atures ruins were to be found. Behind the thick forest which -separates it from the river stands a short range of high cliffs. They -are the last spur of the chain through which the Orinoco has drilled its -way. At a height of 600 to 700 metres on the vertical wall, so straight -and smooth that it seems to have been polished all over by the hand of -man, there appear, carved in the very substance of the rock, a huge -alligator and two human figures, standing near its head and tail -respectively. All are of colossal dimensions. According to the -measurements of other travellers provided with the required instruments, -the length of the alligator exceeds 500 feet, and the human figures are -of proportionate size. It is difficult to understand what sort of -scaffolding was used to carry out this work at such a height, no support -or traces of support of any kind in the rock being apparent; what -instruments were used for the carving, and what purpose the whole work -served: all this is very perplexing. - -Footprints of human endeavour, thoughts of past generations entirely -lost to our minds, left there in the midst of the forest, marking the -passage of men who must have been powerful at a period so remote that -only these traces remain. What more eloquent proof of the nothingness, -the vanity, of our own ephemeral individual life! - -The mere magnitude of the work carried out demonstrates that in those -regions, totally deserted to-day, where Nature has reasserted her -absolute sway, and where the wanderer has to fight for every inch of -ground in the jungle and the thicket, there must once have been -multitudes of men educated in certain arts—arts which in their turn must -have been links in a chain of sequence indispensable to their own -existence, as isolated effort in one direction would be -incomprehensible. Nothing of those myriads of men survives beyond this -dumb expression of their thoughts and aspirations. - -Were those figures carved on that huge wall, on the virgin rock of the -mountains, hundreds or thousands of years ago? Who knows? Who can tell? - -With the rapidity inherent to human thought, my mind sped to the -pyramids of Egypt, the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh, the buried cities -of Ceylon, the excavated temples and palaces in Yucatan and elsewhere, -wherever vestiges of vanished generations are found. - -That sculpture on the rock on the shores of the Orinoco brought to my -mind the dying lion cut into the granite on the banks of the Lake of -Lucerne, as a symbol of respect and admiration to the loyalty and -steadfastness of the compatriots of William Tell, who died for a cause -upon which judgment has been passed in the minds of men and in the pages -of history. I could not help thinking that perhaps when Macaulay’s -famous New Zealander shall stand upon the broken arches of London Bridge -to gaze at the ruins of St. Paul’s, when England and London shall have -crumbled into potsherds, so in years to come some native of these -Orinoco regions, then populous and civilized, may sail on the cool -waters of Lucerne and interrogate the mute rock, anxious to know the -allegory embodied in that dying lion holding in its claws the shield -which bears the three secular lilies of old France. Even as the rock was -mute to us, so shall the rock again be mute to him who thousands of -years hence may question Thorwaldsen’s sculpture. The efforts of man are -powerless against time and oblivion, even though they choose the -largest, the most lasting manifestations of Nature for their pedestal. - -Time passes grimly on. The endeavours of pride, of flattery, of -gratitude, the emblems of glory, all become dumb and meaningless. -Egyptian hieroglyphics, figures and signs carved in monoliths or -pyramids or in the rock of the mountains, after the lapse of what, to -the world, is but an instant, all become confused, vague, and -undefinable. The seeker and the student find all those attempts to -perpetuate the memory or the aspirations of men, now on the burning -sands of the desert, now decked in the foliage and wealth of Nature, -aggressively reasserting her empire, now in the naked summits of the -uplifted mountains—yea, the seeker finds them all; but he knows not -whether they be expressions of human pride anxious to survive the life -of the body, or whether they be witnesses of servile flattery paying -tribute to the mighty, or the grateful offering of nations to their -heroes and their benefactors, or the emblem of some dim forgotten -religion, whose very rites are as unintelligible to living men as is the -mystic power which once gave them force. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - -With the accession of Gatiño and his family and Valiente and his men, -our numbers had gradually increased, and the camp at night had quite a -lively aspect. The men would tell their adventures, and conversation -frequently turned on local topics. We had gradually drifted into -practical indifference concerning the doings of that distant world to -which we belonged, and towards which we were moving. Newspapers, -letters, telegrams, the multifarious scraps of gossip, the bursts of -curiosity which fill so great a part in the life of modern man, had -totally disappeared as daily elements in our own. To tell the truth, I -did not miss them greatly. I have always thought that the daily -newspapers are thieves of time, and cannot but approve the system of a -certain friend of mine, an Englishman, who, residing in New York, had no -other source of information for the world’s news than the weekly edition -of the _Times_. He was dependent on it even for the news of American -life and politics. - -He argued that the ups and downs of a given event were of little -interest to him. - -‘All that one need know,’ he said, ‘is the upshot, the crystallized -fact, without wasting valuable time in the slow developments which, at -times, are pure inventions of the editor—“padding,” as it is called. I -am a little behind-hand at times,’ he remarked, ‘but at the end of the -year I make it up, balance the account, and start afresh.’ - -Certainly if all the attention given to local news of no importance, or -to descriptions of fires, crimes, and sundry topics which never change -in essence and vary solely as regards names and secondary details, were -devoted to studying something useful, the average mind of the great -newspaper-reading nations would not have been degraded to the depths -revealed by a glance at a collection of the newspapers and reading -matter on the bookstalls of any railway-station in France, England, or -the United States, where the flood of trash and sensationalism swamps -and carries away with it public intelligence, or what stands for it. - -Gautier used to complain of the curse of the daily press. - -‘Formerly,’ he said, ‘every human being brayed in his own original -asinine way. Now we only get variations on the leaders in their -respective newspapers!’ - -The great French writer expressed the simple truth in a pointed way. The -cheap press, like cheap liquor, is a public calamity. - -Our men poured forth personal impressions of Nature. The world varies in -size and in beauty in proportion to the eye and the mind that -contemplate it. In Leal’s and Valiente’s conversation especially there -was something like the voice of the forest and the murmuring waters. -They had lived to some purpose in those deserts, and to them cities, -railways, palaces, sea-going ships, and all the other methods of modern -locomotion—material civilization, in fact—were as wonderful as the -beauties and splendours of Eastern tales are to us. - -Talking about tigers, Leal told us that they roamed all over those -plains, especially on the banks of the Meta and the Orinoco, where the -forests intersect breeding and grazing plains. The cattle-ranchers must -be ever on the watch, and from instinct and experience the cattle -acquire a natural spirit of defence without which the losses would be -far heavier than at present. - -Whenever the cattle scent the approach of the tiger, they crowd -together, the young calves in the centre, the cows and young heifers -covering them behind their bodies, and the bulls pacing around and -outside the group like sentinels before a tent. There is no exaggeration -in this tale. Leal assured us that he had himself seen these -preparations on more than one occasion. - -The tiger, whose daring and ferocity are multiplied tenfold by hunger, -frequently attacks the group: then ensues a life and death struggle. The -tiger tries to jump upon the bull sideways or from behind, whilst the -bull strives to face the tiger constantly. As the latter is far more -agile and can leap from a long distance, he frequently lands upon the -bull, sometimes breaking his spine with the blow. If he misses, the bull -gores him. Occasionally both animals die, the tiger in its -death-struggle tearing the bull’s neck open with its claws. - -‘More than once,’ said Leal, ‘have I found the two enemies dead in a -pool of blood side by side.’ - -The tigers also crouch in the bushes close to the drinking-places, and -jump upon the animals as they lower their heads into the water. They rip -open the necks of their victims, drag them into the jungle, and there -devour them. - -The hunters know that a sated tiger is far less daring than a hungry -one, and they frequently place a calf or some other easy prey within his -reach. After his meal he is hunted down, but Leal added that this is not -considered fair play amongst thoroughbred _llaneros_; it is a trick -unworthy of a real sportsman. - -The tigers live exclusively upon other animals. They prefer cattle, and -have a special predilection for donkeys and mules; they are gourmets. -The choicest morsel to their taste seems to be the fat neck of donkeys -and mules; they have, too, a pretty taste in turtles. They can crush the -back of the younger turtles not yet fully developed. These awkward -amphibians rush, if their ponderous movements can be so described, into -the water for fear of the tiger. There he is powerless to harm them. - -The alligator rivals the tiger in voracity and fierceness. They are -sworn enemies, and attack each other whenever they meet. The odds are on -the tiger’s side if the struggle be on land, and in favour of the -alligator if the pair meet in the water. The tiger seeks to turn the -alligator over on his back, or to get at the body towards the stomach, -where the softer skin can be penetrated by the tiger’s claws, which -disembowel his enemy. The alligator defends himself by striking terrific -blows with his tail, and seeks to scrunch the tiger between his -formidable jaws. Fights between them, Leal said, are frequently seen on -the beaches, and are a fascinating though ghastly spectacle. - -The tigers frequently cross rivers infested with alligators, and display -a really marvellous cunning in avoiding their enemy in his own element. -The tiger will stand on the beach at a given point of the river, and -there roar with all his might for an hour or so on end. The alligators, -in the hope of getting at him, congregate in the water at that -particular point. When the members of the assembly thus convened have, -so far as the tiger can judge, met at the appointed place, he starts -up-stream along the banks as rapidly as possible, and crosses two or -three miles higher up. There are two details to be noted: first, the -stratagem by which the tiger misleads his enemies; and, second, his -choice of a crossing-place, so that the alligator would have to swim -against the current to get at him. - -Both Leal and Valiente had the true cattle-breeder’s love for cattle, -which to them are man’s best friends. - -‘They give us milk and meat and cheese,’ Leal would say; ‘they help us -to cultivate the ground, and their very presence drives away fevers, -mosquitoes, and miasmas. We and the cattle are allies against the boas, -the tigers, the snakes, and all the beasts without which these lands -would be a real paradise.’ - -The tales of our friends sounded most wonderful in Fermin’s ears. He was -a townsman, accustomed to bricks and mortar; furthermore, he was -naturally sceptical as to all that he heard, and felt rather small at -seeing our men’s familiarity with things and manifestations of Nature -which to him were so strange and new. - -Fermin came from the city of Medellin, where he had spent most of his -life. It is a typical old Spanish town of the central tropical belt. It -nestles amongst the hills, 100 miles from the left bank of the Magdalena -River, at a height of about 4,500 feet. The ground around is -mountainous. The valley is small and beautiful, with numberless streams -coursing down the hills, and luxuriant vegetation in perpetual bloom. - -Prior to this journey, Fermin’s travels had never taken him beyond his -own province. Like all Colombians, he had been a soldier at some period -of his life, a ‘volunteer’ of the type described in a telegram (very -well known in Colombia) which a candid or witty—the distinction is at -times difficult—mayor sent to a colleague in a neighbouring town: -‘Herewith I send a hundred volunteers; kindly return the ropes!’ Having -joined the army in this wise, it is not strange that Fermin left it as -soon as he could. His military career was no longer and no more glorious -than Coleridge’s. - -Continental Europeans are wont to grow amusingly solemn and censorious -when they hear of the system still obtaining in many parts of Spanish -America for the formation of armies which are chiefly engaged in the -civil wars that devastate those countries from time to time; this system -is nothing more nor less than the press-gang method practised all over -Europe not so long ago. But between this press-gang, which suddenly -compels a man to join the ranks destined to fight, and the conscription, -which forces him into the army whether he likes it or not, I can only -see a difference of detail, but none in essence. Individual liberty is -as much violated in the one case as in the other. In both cases the -weak, the helpless, and the poor are the prey of the more cunning and -more powerful, and as for the causes at stake, whatever the name or -pretext may be, if the whole question is sifted, greed and ambition -masquerading under some conventional high-sounding name will be found to -be the real and essential motors. Militarism is a form of exploitation -of mankind which adds human blood to the ingredients productive of gold -and power to others; it is nothing but an engine of plunder and of -pride, the more disgusting on account of its sleek hypocrisy. Your -money-lender frankly tells you that he will charge you three, four, or -five per cent. per month, and despoil you of house and home if you -cannot pay; this, though cruel, is frank and open and above-board. But -your advocate of militarism will despoil you like the cosmopolite Jew, -telling you that glory shall be yours, that patriotism and the holy -traditions of religion, the dynasty, the empire, or the nation, as the -case may be, are at stake, and that it is necessary for you to risk your -skin in consequence. With such baubles and clownish maunderings men have -been led on, and are still being led on, to cut each other’s throats for -the personal benefit and satisfaction of their leaders, who give them a -bit of ribbon or stamped metal if they survive and have luck. Meanwhile -the exploiters sit safe on their office chairs, pocket the shekels, and -chuckle at the pack of fools, the smug middle-class flunkies, and the -dirty, bamboozled millions, the cannon fodder, fit only for bayonet and -shrapnel. - -After leaving the army, Fermin, who by trade was a journeyman tailor, -had joined the remnants of a wrecked theatrical company, a group of -strollers travelling through the towns and villages of his province, and -giving performances from the modern and the ancient Spanish repertory, -to the enjoyment and the edification of the natives. - -He had been in my service for over a year, proving himself admirable as -a valet, and certainly very plastic, for during the journey he had been -by turns muleteer, amateur paddler, fisherman, hunter and cook. - -The people of his province, a hardy mountaineer race, so prolific that -population doubles itself every twenty-eight years, are known all over -Spanish America for their readiness at repartee, the frequent metaphors -that brighten their daily speech, and a knack of humorous exaggeration. - -Fermin, referring to one of the men whose idleness he criticised, said, -‘That fellow is so lazy that he cannot even carry a greeting!’ and -talking of the wonderful climbing ability of a certain mule, he said -that, if it could only find the way, it would reach the gates of heaven -and bray in the ears of St. Peter! - -One evening, during a lull in the conversation, Fermin, who had quietly -listened to tales of fierce tigers, chivalrous bulls, alligators, and -many other natives of forest or stream, burst forth, saying that he also -knew of some wonderful beasts; but I prefer to quote his words as nearly -as possible. - -‘The truth is,’ said he, ‘that before starting on this trip I knew -nothing about tigers, alligators, boas, and so forth, except from -picture-books. I had even thought that people lied a great deal about -those animals, but sight has now convinced me of their existence. I have -no doubt they are to be found somewhere in my native province, but it is -not about them that I am going to talk. I will tell you something which -will show that we, too, have wonderful animals in our part of the -country. - -‘Some years ago I was the first lover in a theatrical company which, -though modest in its pretensions, scored great success wherever it -played. One night, in the mining region near the Cauca River, we were -forced to sleep in the very shed where we had performed the comic opera -entitled “The Children of Captain Grant,” a most popular seafaring tale -set to music. - -‘Mosquitoes were as abundant and aggressive as anywhere in the world, -but they seemed to me to have far stronger lungs than those of these -localities. Anyhow, there was a specially sustained high-sounding ring -in their little trumpets, so that they formed a sort of orchestra -beneath the moon. - -‘One of the lady artistes held the doctrine that life was sacred in all -its manifestations; that man has no right to kill any animal, however -small it may be, so she did not kill the mosquitoes that swarmed around -her, but tried to blow them away with her fan. However, as some of them -alighted on her forehead and on her hands, she would take them carefully -between thumb and forefinger and place them on the side of a basin half -filled with water, moistening their wings so that they stuck and -remained harmless for the time being. - -‘The smokers amongst us—all the men, in fact—after lighting their cigars -or cigarettes, threw their wooden matches into the basin, a necessary -precaution lest the thatch-roofed shed might catch fire. - -‘In the earlier part of the night the mosquitoes made sleep almost -impossible, and there we lay on the ground or upon canvas stretchers -snoozing and tossing about, waiting for the morning. As night advanced, -with the arrival of a welcome breeze, they seemed to diminish in -numbers. I began to doze, but was awakened by one of my companions who -called my attention to the echo of distant music, sweet and low, a -harmony of lutes and soft recorders, whose sounds were wafted on the -wings of the night air. We went out of the shed, and the sounds ceased. -On returning to it we heard the melody again. This was a mystery. Nearly -all our companions were asleep. We were determined to ascertain whence -the music came, and, on investigation, found that the blessed -mosquitoes, placed by the charitable and humane artiste on the sides of -the basin, had contrived to build a raft with the fag-ends of matches, -on which, waiting for their wings to dry completely, they were whiling -the night away gaily singing the most popular ditty in our operetta, -descriptive of the joys of life on the ocean wave! - -‘This will show you,’ Fermin added, ‘that, though we have neither -tigers, nor boas, nor turtles, nor fighting bulls, nor alligators, in -our province, our mosquitoes beat all yours in talent and ability!’ - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - -Not far from the Atures rapids, we stopped at Puerto Real, a short curve -in the river where the waters penetrate into a sort of bay justifying -the name of ‘port,’ but with no other title to it, for no human -habitation, not even the humblest hut, exists on either shore. Here the -canoes were laden permanently, as the river flowed straight to the -ocean, free from all rapids except at a few narrow places where the -current is swifter. These, however, did not call for the precautions of -the past days. - -Leal considered his task at an end. We were on the open Orinoco in the -Republic of Venezuela, and in the hands of a guide as careful and expert -as Gatiño. This led Leal to return. In vain did we seek to persuade him -to accompany us, to enter Colombia by the Magdalena River, thence to -Bogotá, and then by the road we had followed to San Pedro del Tua. He -would not abandon his companions, and decided to go back by the -identical route we had followed. We deeply felt parting from that noble -companion whose quiet, unobtrusive courage, whose skilled prudence and -ready intelligence, had not only contributed greatly to our comfort -during the ninety odd days that he had been with us, but had doubtless -saved our lives on more than one occasion. - -As a proof of the extent and value of his services, I will quote a -letter received many months after in Europe, when, in the midst of -modern civilization, the events and occurrences of my journey through -the tropical regions of South America seemed more like a dream than a -reality. Alex, who had returned to Bogotá, wrote as follows: - - -‘I have just received a letter from Leal, dated from his home at San -Pedro del Tua. You will remember that he left us with fourteen of our -men, to return by the Vichada and the Meta. On the very day of their -departure, whilst they were ascending the rapids, and we proceeded on -our journey down-stream, only a few hours after bidding us farewell, one -of the two canoes, carrying seven men, struck the trunk of a tree lying -under the water, and capsized. The men were all good swimmers, and soon -overtook the canoe, which was drifting with the stream. After a good -deal of trouble, they succeeded in turning it over. Whilst they were -getting back into it, they were attacked by two enormous alligators -which sought to overturn the canoe, striking it furiously with their -tails. One of the sailors was struck on the head and stunned, losing his -grip, and before he could be pulled in the other alligator cut his body -in two, as if with a saw, crushing him between its jaws, so that the man -was actually devoured in the very presence of his companions.’ - - -On reading these tragic details, I felt a cold shiver run through me, -like a man who sees lightning strike an object close to him, or feels a -murderous bullet whizz past his head. A retrospective fear seized upon -me at the thought of the many nights spent on the lonely beaches, and -the numberless times that our canoes had struck submerged rocks or -trunks of trees. Surely a kind Providence had watched over us during -that long journey. ‘The child’s heart within the man’s’ revived in me, -with the faith in God learnt from the lips of my mother, and my soul -went to her who, during those long, anxious days, had prayed night and -day to Him above for the safety of her absent son. - -Greatly diminished in numbers, we continued downwards, hoping to strike -some camp of tonga-bean-gatherers, the harvest season having just begun. - -If the Meta had seemed large and mighty to us, the Orinoco bore the -aspect of an inland sea. The breezes and the hurricanes blow upon its -billows and dash them into surf on the bank; the trade-winds—our old -friends of the Meta—reappeared on the Orinoco, only far stronger than -before. One would say that they spend their force in the long journey, -and are somewhat weary in the upper regions. It is impossible to make -any progress in the teeth of the trade-wind. With a stern or a side wind -the canoes hoist their sails and travel with the speed of birds on the -wing. The great force of the wind is generally felt during the middle -hours of the day; it lulls in the morning and afternoon. - -Far more frequently than on the Meta we were forced to wait for hours on -the sandy desert beaches, or close in to the shore covered with jungle, -waiting, waiting for the wind to sink. The worst feature of these -breezes is that they raise a great quantity of sand to a height varying -from 2 to 3 feet. - -Cooking becomes impossible, as the wind blows the fire out, scattering -the embers and the logs, and unless rocks or trees be available on which -to sit at a certain height, one is compelled to stand, as it is -impossible to breathe the air, which is impregnated with sand. At such -times we were compelled to make our meals of _casabe_ dipped in water, -and drink more freely of the white rum which took the place of warmer -food and drink. Once we were kept thus imprisoned for nearly thirty -hours; our helplessness against the elements exercised a most depressing -influence. - -The tonga bean, called in Spanish _zarrapia_, constitutes a most -important article of trade, and is obtained in large quantities on the -shore of the Orinoco and of many of its affluents below the rapids. It -is said to abound also in the Upper Orinoco, but there it is seldom -gathered. - -The tonga-tree is large and leafy, very similar to the mango-tree. The -branches, which spread over an area of 20, 30, or 40 feet, are covered -with thick foliage, and the yield of fruit is enormous. The fruit -resembles the mango in shape and appearance. Under a sweet pulp, quite -palatable, is found an oval nut, identical with that of the mango, and -inside this nut, which has the consistency of a walnut, is encased a -small elongated bean of a pink colour. It soon turns dark red when -exposed to air and sun. The trees shed the fruit in the months of -February and March; the men gather it from the ground, clean off the -pulp, and break the nut with stones. This must be carefully done to -avoid breaking the bean, which is then placed in the sun on dry, -untanned hides, and after two or three days packed in bags ready for -transportation. - -The tonga bean is chiefly used in perfumery, and is a very good -substitute for vanilla. - -We were told that the exports averaged, at the prices then ranging, a -yearly output of £100,000 to £150,000. I understand that the price has -fallen considerably of late years, but as the gathering costs very -little, and the transportation, owing to the numerous waterways, is -cheap, there must still be great profits in the business. - -Traders flock from the different parts of the river to certain -well-known camps, from which they branch off into the forests, bringing -back the bean for sale to the camps. Although the Venezuelan Government -has more than once granted special privileges and monopolies to -individuals and companies for the exploitation of the tonga bean, its -gathering is practically free, as it would be next to impossible to -watch over such vast uninhabited areas where men can easily conceal -themselves in the forests. - -Our progress was far slower than before, as we generally lost half a day -waiting for the breeze to fall. This was owing principally to the size -of our canoes, too small for navigation in a high wind. - -In due time we came upon the first camp, a most welcome sight to our -eyes; a whole village of tents stood pitched on the bank of the river, -and upwards of twenty or thirty canoes were moored along the shore. -Amongst them we saw a small one-masted schooner, which raised its -graceful lines above the surrounding small craft. We gazed upon it with -covetous eyes, and decided to make every possible effort to acquire it, -if it could be had for love or money. - -We did not attract any attention at first; the people in the camp -thought that we were tonga-bean-gatherers like themselves, coming from -some point above; but they showed great interest and courtesy on hearing -that we came not only from beyond the rapids, but from the upper -affluents of the Orinoco. We soon closed a bargain for the schooner, -into which we transferred our belongings, and the next day the three -small sails were let loose to the very breeze that, during the past few -days, had nailed us to the shores. - -Besides the schooner, we obtained a supply of provisions, though not as -much as we wished. The traders had only what they needed, and were loath -to part with them, especially as we were going towards the centres of -supply. - -In the course of a day or two we stopped at a large flat island, some -twelve miles in length, as we were told, and varying from two to four -miles in breadth; this is known as the Beach of Lard (_Playa de la -Manteca_). This island is the laying-place of hundreds of thousands of -turtles, which come to it every year in the laying season. The island -belongs to the Government, who place a small detachment of soldiers to -watch over it. The traders buy the right of working a given section of -the ground. They dig out the eggs, from which the oil is extracted. It -is used for cooking, and is a substitute for lard and butter—hence the -name of the beach. - -The turtles swarm in myriads, and are forced by those coming up behind -them to go further into the island. After laying their eggs they seek -the water, but are so numerous that it is necessary for the soldiers and -traders to keep a pathway open, otherwise many of them could not get -back to the river. - -It is a marvel to see countless acres of ground covered with turtles as -thick as the stones of a pavement; and the fact might be incredible if -it were not vouched for by so many travellers. - -A turtle lays, according to its size and age, from fifty to three or -four hundred eggs. The men—traders or Government agents—are free to take -as many turtles as they like; the eggs are the only article of barter -upon which a price is set. - -Some idea of the number of turtles laying eggs on the beach may be -gathered from the reckoning of a French traveller who investigated the -subject. - -The oil extracted from the eggs is gathered in demijohns holding on an -average seven gallons each, and the average yield of a good year is -about ten thousand demijohns. Each demijohn requires from four to five -thousand eggs; ten thousand demijohns represent from four to five -millions, which means that there must be from four to five hundred -thousand turtles. The tale seems extravagant. - -It is needless to say that we took in as large a supply of turtles and -of eggs as we could carry. The sailors of the schooner were delighted at -the prospect of turtle meat and turtle eggs _ad libitum_. The eggs are -boiled in salt water, and keep for a practically indefinite period. - -The capacity for eating these eggs shown by the natives of those regions -seems to be unlimited. I could not understand, looking at the size of -the men and at the young mountain of turtle eggs before which they sat, -and which disappeared after a period of sustained assimilation, how it -was possible that they did not swell outwardly or explode. Here was a -case in which the envelope was, to all purposes and appearances, smaller -than the contents assimilated—a problem for some sapient naturalist to -investigate whenever he may chance to stray into those remote regions. - -It is said that the turtle yields seven kinds of meat, and that in the -hands of a good cook it is transfigured into calf’s head, veal, tender -loin steak, chicken, venison, pork, and (naturally) turtle meat. Be that -as it may, notwithstanding the uncouth and, to some, repulsive -appearance of the animal, it is evident that the various parts of its -body are not only palatable, but may be disguised to imitate the -varieties mentioned, a peculiarity which in its turn works inversely, as -in the well-known case of mock-turtle soup. - -The turtles we bought were placed on their backs, which seems to be the -universal method of keeping them all the world over. There in the bottom -of our schooner the poor beasts had ample opportunity to watch the -flight of clouds by day and the grouping of the constellations by night. -I fear, however, that they did not improve their time with the study -either of atmospherical changes or of astronomical wonders. - -Fermin rapidly learnt how to cook and prepare turtles in the various -native ways, to which he added devices of his own, reminiscent of the -preparation of other meats and dishes in his native province. - -The change of diet was most welcome at first, but after the fourth or -fifth day the very name of turtle was revolting. Fermin was told that, -if nothing else but turtle was to be found, we preferred to fall back on -boiled rice and _casabe_. Relying, however, on his ability and the -protean plasticity of turtle meat, he insisted on serving some of it as -wild-boar flesh, and only upon a formal threat of shooting, or being -left tied to the trunk of a tree along the shore, like a new Andromache, -did he cease his attempts to deceive our palates. Thus, notwithstanding -the plentiful supply of turtles and turtle eggs, we drifted back to the -diet of _casabe_, boiled fish and boiled rice. - -We had hoped to strike some cattle-farm, but we scanned the horizon in -vain. The plains and the forests rolled before our eyes, an interminable -blank for our purposes. - -Finally, as everything happens at last, our expectation was gratified; -near the confluence of our old friend the Meta with the Orinoco, we came -upon a cattle-ranch where we obtained corn, molasses, eggs, lard, -cheese, coffee, and the whole side of a recently slaughtered heifer. - -I can readily understand that persons of a delicate taste, should they -happen to read these awkwardly penned lines, must feel disgusted at the -recurrence of such vulgar and material details. Their amazement will -certainly be great, for in all probability they will be surrounded by -all the comforts and the luxury of civilized life. There is no harsher -censor of the misdeeds or faults arising out of somebody else’s hunger -than the drowsy philosopher who passes judgment in a comfortable -armchair after a plentiful meal; his untempted rectitude makes him the -austerest critic of failings and weaknesses in others. However, the -opinion of those immaculate beings, with their hot-house virtue, safe -from wind and wet behind glass panes, receives precisely the attention -it deserves. - -Still, I admit that, after having crossed those regions, it were better -if I could describe what I saw in a series of pen-pictures which would -unroll before the reader in sequence or harmonious groups the numerous -sublime aspects of Nature; it were far better that, even as the essence -retains the perfume of the flower, the written word should convey to -other minds the deep impression left upon my own by the mysterious -murmuring forest, the invisible wind whose breath so often cooled my -forehead, the constant throb of the wandering waves pent within their -narrow channels, the infinite azure of the sky, and the numberless -sounds and rumours, now soft, now deafening, which fill the air in that -world still free from the burden of civilization, living the life of -untrodden Nature, a link in the endless chain of existence ravening on -death, with the great drama of being made manifest in a thousand diverse -shapes. - -Happy were I could I seize one single note from that vast symphony, -capture it, and fix it with my words! Vain wishes! - -We passed from those solitudes, leaving no more trace behind us than the -clouds in the sky, and although the impression of the greatness and the -majesty of Nature sank deeply into my heart, so that at times my soul, -returning to the days of the past, loses itself in the depths of the -forests and the summits of the mountains, follows the course of the -rivers, or bathes itself in the pure atmosphere of the free and -boundless plain, whenever I seek to utter my inmost feelings, so that -others may feel and understand with me, only the faintest shadow of my -thought falls on the blank page. The gift of seeing and of feeling, and -of creating what we have felt and seen so that others in their turn may -feel a similar impression, has been given by the Almighty only to those -few chosen artists and men of genius who throw upon the work which they -create ‘the light that never was on land or sea.’ I must perforce limit -myself to the humble narrative of our daily life. I have no higher -ambition in writing these pages, and I shall be fortunate if I meet with -readers who understand my motive. - -The schooner took us down to La Urbana (a settlement with urban -pretensions); it boasts some _adobe_ houses covered with tiles, and a -small church. Here we abandoned the schooner, and were obliged to take -to a far smaller canoe—large enough, however, for navigation on the -Orinoco—in which we proceeded to Caicara, where we expected to meet the -steamers plying between Ciudad Bolivar and the Apure River. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - -The journey from La Urbana to Caicara passed off without any incident. -On jumping ashore at this latter point we hoped that we were leaving our -canoes for good, and that the rest of the journey to Ciudad Bolivar -would take place by steam. - -The people received us very kindly, and, though the town was far from -modern or rich, we enjoyed some comforts that we had lacked during the -long journey which lay behind us. - -Though eight weeks had passed since the news of the death of the -Governor of San Carlos had reached Maipures, nothing was known about it -at Caicara. This will give an idea of the abandonment in which those -vast territories are left by those under whose political authority they -live. Grave international complications with the neighbouring States -might arise from disturbances like that at San Carlos, and yet the news -had only come down by mere chance, brought by travellers who had no -personal interest in it. - -Finding that there was no certainty as to the steamers likely to touch -at Caicara, we reluctantly decided to take again to the slow and sure -method of canoeing, rather than wait for him who had not promised to -come, and thus we proceeded on our journey in the same canoes that we -had imagined we were abandoning once for all two days before. A feeling -of discontent began to possess us. It was not that we were dissatisfied -with the kind of life, nor that we had become over-sensitive to the -privations inherent to it, nor that we complained of being plain squires -compelled to adopt the practices of knight-errants, such as not eating -off linen, nor sleeping on comfortable couches, nor under roof of house -or mansion; no, our great longing arose at the thought of those far away -in the civilized world, to whom our long silence must necessarily be a -source of anxiety. For the rest, however, the life we were leading had -become a sort of second nature, and we found it by no means -disagreeable. We ate with healthy appetites, and when night came, -stretched on our matting, we heedlessly let the wind fold its wings or -shriek into madness, whilst the river either murmured gently along like -a stream across the green meadow or lashed into fury like a lion. - -We rowed or sailed as the river and the wind permitted, gaining ground -without the loss of an available minute, with the tenacity of one who -has a given task to accomplish, and wants to perform it with the least -possible delay. One night, shortly after halting, a shudder of delight -ran through us on hearing one of the men exclaim, ‘Steamer coming!’ We -turned in the direction pointed out by him, but saw nothing. However, we -had learnt by that time to trust to the keener senses of the natives. -Shortly afterwards, with ear to ground, we heard, or thought we heard, a -far-off indistinct vibration as of the paddles of a steamer striking the -water. The sound soon became unmistakable. Here was an unexpected -redemption. From sheer joy we ceased the preparations for our evening -meal. To attract the attention of those on board the steamer the -bonfires were piled up high, and, to leave no possible loophole to -adverse fate, Alex and four of the men sailed into mid-stream, so as to -be quite close to the craft. Soon it loomed majestic and welcome to our -eyes. The pennant of whitish smoke rose in the still blue night, and -floated as a signal of welcome. The boat advanced steadily; we could see -the people on board. That rather undersized vessel was to us, for the -moment, the great in fact, the only—steamer in the world. We fired our -revolvers. Alex and his men bawled themselves hoarse. No sign of -recognition came from the steamer as she ploughed on swiftly, -relentlessly, disdainfully, soon to be lost in the distance. This was -wanton cruelty, and, as we thought at the time, a sin against human -nature. Our feelings were not such as might be commended to the -attention and imitation of Sunday-school children! Our language was -decidedly ‘unfit for publication.’ According to the reckoning of our -men, which events proved accurate, we should require twelve days more to -reach Ciudad Bolivar, whilst the steamer, sailing day and night as it -could, even against the breeze, would cover the distance in forty-eight -or sixty hours. It is well that we possessed no magic powers enabling us -to destroy, as if with a thunder-bolt, for in that case the steamer -would not have reached its destination. So it generally happens in life -when the action of others foils our little plans or obstructs our way. -Looking solely to our own side of the question, we are apt to make no -allowance, and attribute to utter perversity what from the standpoint of -the other side may be perfectly reasonable. As revolutions are frequent -in those latitudes, and as steamers had on several occasions been seized -by parties of men ambushed on the shore, the captain of the steamer -probably thought that prudence and caution were his safest guides. He -may have believed that, besides the small group which he saw in the -canoe and on the shore, a formidable host might be lurking in the -forest, and under those circumstances his behaviour is perfectly -intelligible. - -As we approached the end of our journey, our impatience and anxiety grew -keener. Up to that time we had never lost our equanimity, and now, when -we could reckon with a fair degree of accuracy the date of our arrival -at Ciudad Bolivar, the smallest obstacle or detention irritated us -beyond measure. Yet all things end. On April 20 we arrived at a small -outlying village three hours from Ciudad Bolivar. - -Our approach to a civilized community awakened slumbering feelings of -vanity, and for the first time during many months we bethought ourselves -of our appearance. I had an authentic mane on my head; our beards were -thick and bushy as the jungle on the banks of the river. Such clothes as -we had could hardly have passed muster under the eyes of the most -lenient critic. Most of those that we possessed at starting had been -left behind amongst the Indians, in payment of work, and what little -remained had not been improved by the moisture of the climate. On taking -stock, I soon found that my dress coat and trousers—evolved by some -London artist—were the only decent clothes left to me; yet I could not -screw up courage to don them, as I feared that if, after several months’ -journey through the wildest regions of South America, I jumped ashore at -noonday on the banks of the Orinoco in a swallow-tail, the authorities -would probably provide me with free board and lodging in some cool -lunatic asylum! We consoled ourselves with the thought that we were -clean, and thus near to godliness, and that we could soon replace our -patched and tattered clothes at Ciudad Bolivar. - -I have forgotten to mention our visit to the cattle estates of General -Crespo, at that time President of Venezuela, a typical son of the -_llanos_. These estates had a frontage of twenty-five leagues along the -river, and extend Heaven only knows how far into the interior. The -manager, or _major-domo_, told us that the herds on those estates -numbered upwards of 200,000 head of cattle. The figure appears -fantastic, but the fact that at that time 1,500 three-year-old bullocks -were exported monthly to the neighbouring West India Island, principally -Trinidad, may serve as a basis for calculation. - -On that eventful 20th of April the breeze blew tantalizingly against us, -yet we would not be detained, and decided to advance in its very teeth. -The men jumped ashore and pulled the canoes with ropes. The city, built -as upon a terrace, soon appeared in the distance, its white, red-roofed -houses standing out under the clear sky like dabs of paint upon a blue -canvas. Behind the town the hill continued to rise, and opposite the -city the river itself, encased into a narrow space, is only one-third of -a mile broad. It was a delight to look once more on houses, towers and -churches, and other signs of civilized life. The sight was an -enchantment after the eternal panorama of forest, mountain, plain and -river. We had a feeling akin to that of Columbus and his companions when -the watch shouted ‘Land! land!’ We could echo those words in their full -significance. The struggle was at an end; river, forest, rapids, fevers, -wild beasts, poisonous snakes, savages, and all the obstacles that lay -behind us, were over, leaving no further trace than the dust along the -roads or the foam of the waves on the sands. Thanks to the Divine -protection, we had reached the end of an adventurous journey full of -possibilities of mishap and of danger, and all that had taken place was -simply as a memory in our minds. - -We attracted great attention on landing, and were soon installed in one -of the good hotels of the towns. We stared with something like -wonderment at mirrors, tables, sofas, as at so many good old friends -from whom we had been long separated. In us, primitive man had very soon -reasserted full sway, and we had to make some effort to return to the -habits and customs of civilized life. As soon as we could, we placed -ourselves in the hands of a barber in the town. He had been told of our -great store of luggage, and, inquisitive as all men of his profession -are, on hearing one of us humming for very joy under his razor and -shears, asked (I know not whether in innocence or banter): ‘How many of -you are in the company, and what opera are you going to begin with?’ To -this I replied: ‘We are not an opera company, but a circus, and our -performances will begin shortly; we are on the look-out for a clown.’ He -did not proceed with his cross-examination. - -Ciudad Bolivar is famous in the annals of Venezuelan and Colombian -history. It bears the name of the emancipator of those regions. Formerly -it was called Angostura, which means ‘the Narrows.’ In 1819 one of the -first Colombian Congresses was held at that city, and its deliberations, -which soon crystallized into action, brought about the expulsion of the -Spaniards after a daring and sanguinary series of campaigns. The very -men who sat at Ciudad Bolivar, 300 miles from the shores of the -Atlantic, ended their military campaign on the plateau of Ayacucho in -1824, having marched thousands of leagues across plain and forests, -snow-capped mountains, precipices, jungle, fighting for every inch of -ground against the stubborn soldiers of Spain in one of the most heroic -and tenacious struggles on both sides that are to be found in the annals -of history. - -The river, as I have stated before, narrows after its long pilgrimage, -and, even as a regiment which closes its ranks, rolls its waves in -denser array opposite the city. No sooner does it reach the outside -limits than it broadens again, and, after running through fertile plains -and swampy valleys for a distance of 600 kilometres, reaches the sea. -The normal depth opposite Ciudad Bolivar is 120 metres. During the rainy -season the level rises from 10 to 20 metres. - -Verily the Orinoco is a living, wandering sea of fresh water gathered -from the northern plains of South America, which forms the tribute of -those lands to the Atlantic Ocean. We had just followed it in its -pilgrimage for a long part of its course. We had known it in tempest and -in calm; we had watched the dawn gilding its throbbing waters or the -twilight covering them with flickering shadows; we had listened to the -whispering of the winds and the roar of the hurricane along its shores; -we had seen the monsters which roam in its waters, admired the river’s -Titanic sport, dashing in the rapids, or its majestic quiet in the deep -basins of granite where the current seems to rest before leaping in a -wild onslaught through the cañons; and now we saw it majestically unroll -before our eyes in the august pageant of its last procession to the -ocean. We could not but think that, if that great artery of palpitating -life which vibrates through the centre of the continent had stood us in -such good service, its possibilities for the development of those vast -unknown territories, when once appreciated by humanity, were practically -unlimited. To our mind’s eye, prophetic with desire, the vast solitudes -we had left behind became resonant glad with the presence of myriads of -men; the forests were cleared, the plains tilled, and a happy and -prosperous nation, the outcome of the present struggling democracies -that own those lands, increased by swarms of immigrants from distant -overcrowded countries, reared its cities and towns along the banks of -the river which, in its immutable, defiant majesty and power, still -rolled to the sea, serving men, but remaining a bond of union, a mighty -link between the Cordilleras and the ocean. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - -I have thus far sought to give an idea of my personal impressions during -a journey most memorable to me; and I am aware that I bring no new or -useful contribution from a scientific point of view. We had no -instruments of observation, not even an ordinary every-day compass, -enabling us to fix the cardinal points with certainty. Furthermore, had -we possessed more complicated instruments, we were too ignorant to use -them. Let these remarks be borne in mind should errors of appreciation -be noticed, as certainly they exist, in this disjointed narrative. - -We wandered on with the definite aim of reaching the Atlantic Ocean. -Beyond that we did not venture to scrutinize too deeply the mysterious -and wonderful manifestations of Nature, but took them as they appeared -to our limited means of vision and understanding, and sought nothing -beyond. - -However, before closing these pages, assuming that some kind reader’s -patience may have enabled him to accompany me thus far, it may not be -amiss to give some accurate data which I take from the admirable -monograph entitled ‘South America: an Outline of its Physical -Geography,’ published in the _Geographical Journal_ of April, 1901, by -Colonel George Earl Church, a book which might be called ‘South America -in a Nutshell,’ wonderfully accurate and concise, and worthy of the -highest praise. - -The total length of the Orinoco is about 1,500 miles, but if measured by -its Guaviari branch it is several hundred miles longer. It reaches its -maximum height in August. To its point of junction with the Guaviare it -takes a north-west course. Ninety miles before its union with that -stream it receives its principal eastern affluent, the Ventuario. From -the Guaviare it runs north nearly as far as the Apure, where it suddenly -turns east. Between the Guaviare and the Meta the course of the river is -obstructed by the Maipures Rapids, which extend for a length of four -miles, with a total fall of about 40 feet. Below this the Atures Rapids -cover a distance of about six miles, falling about 30 feet. Navigation -is then free for about 700 miles, as far as the rapids of Cariben, -within six miles of the mouth of the Meta. The river at this point is -about a mile wide. Its course continues to the north, and at the mouth -of the Apure it is two miles wide in the dry season, and about seven -when in flood. At Cariben it rises 32 feet; but at the Angostura, or -‘Narrows,’ 372 miles from the sea, it has risen to 60 feet. It enters -the sea by its main trunk, the Boca Grande. About 100 miles above its -mouth it throws off a branch northward to the Gulf of Paria, also 100 -miles in length. Six other considerable arms find their way to the ocean -across a vast delta about 7,000 square miles in area. The Boca Grande is -the deepest and main navigable entrance at all seasons, the muddy bar -usually maintaining a depth of 16 feet. The basin of the Orinoco covers -an area of 364,500 square miles. - -The principal affluents flowing from the Andean slopes are the Apure, -the Arauca, the Meta, and the Guaviare. - -The Apure is 695 miles long, of which 564 are navigable. The Apure in -its turn receives numerous tributaries, some of which are navigable for -short distances. - -The Arauca, the Meta and the Guaviare, are also navigable. - -The Casiquiare Canal unites the upper Orinoco with the Rio Negro branch -of the Amazon. It is about 300 miles long, with an average depth of 30 -feet, and has a strong current in the direction of the Negro. The list -of affluents of the Orinoco and of its tributaries would be a very long -one, and would serve no useful purpose here. - -Evidently the Orinoco and the Orinoco system, with their innumerable -ramifications in all directions, form a basis for the easy exploitation -of the vast sources of natural wealth which exist in the immense -territory through which their waters flow. - -That territory lies within the borders of the Republics of Colombia and -Venezuela. Up to the present neither nation has seriously attempted to -utilize the valuable elements so bountifully offered by Nature. In the -matter of navigation, ocean-going steamers sail frequently as far as -Ciudad Bolivar. From this latter point river steamers ply once or twice -a month up the Orinoco, turning into the Apure as far as San Fernando de -Apure, and during the tonga-bean harvest follow the course of the main -river generally as far as the Caura, where the harvesters established -their central camps a good many years ago. An effort was made to -establish navigation on the Orinoco and its affluents above the rapids, -and also to run small steamers in the navigable part between the Atures -and Maipures rapids; but the French company, which held a charter -practically placing the whole region at its disposal, failed of its -object, after spending a considerable amount of money. During our -journey, in several places we could see, rotting in the sun, the -remnants of broken-down steamers, which appeared uncanny objects in -those surroundings. The rapids, acting as a barrier, have deterred -traders and explorers. The upper part of the Orinoco is the most -abundant in natural wealth. As I have had occasion to note in these -pages, india-rubber, _piazaba_, tonga bean, resinous and medicinal -plants, are found in practically unlimited quantities along the shores -of all the rivers above the rapids, and the small proportion which is -gathered is generally shipped through the Rio Negro by way of the -Amazon, as traders prefer that long and tedious journey to the -difficulties of the Orinoco Rapids. - -Yet to give life to the Orinoco, to establish a stream of natural -products down its waters, and to facilitate the opening of the forests -and mountains beyond the rapids, it would not be necessary to carry out -work of a very stupendous nature, beyond the resources of the peoples -and the nations most interested in the work. A cursory glance at the -elements of the problem reveals the possibility of carrying out a plan, -the general outlines of which might be the following: - -A line of steamers should be established plying at least twice a month -between Ciudad Bolivar and the highest accessible point for navigation -below the Atures Rapids. - -The old road along the rapids, which extended from that highest point of -navigation to beyond Maipures where the river is again free and open, -should be reconstructed. A railway could be built along either shore, -the ground being mostly level and hard. It would not be necessary to -undertake great engineering works, and the road-bed itself would require -neither deep cuttings nor terracing, nor expensive culverts and works of -drainage, and the few bridges required, being of short span, would not -run into high figures. - -Steam navigation should also be established beyond the rapids on the -rivers forming the upper basin. This could be done at first by means of -small steam-launches such as are used in the affluents of the Amazon -River, but the service should be carried out faithfully and -periodically, even though at first freight and passengers were lacking. -People in Spanish America are generally very sceptical as to these -enterprises, but once a feeling of confidence was created, explorers -would flock both from Colombia and from Venezuela, as they would know -that they would have an outlet for whatever products they might gather. - -The Indians on the Vichada, and even those on the Meta, would supply -abundant labour, and the exports of natural products would soon furnish -all the freight that might be desired to make the whole arrangement of -steamers above and below the rapids, and the railway along the same, a -paying concern. - -A line of steamers should also follow the course of the Meta River as -far as La Cruz, a port situated about ninety miles from Bogotá, thus -tapping the import and export trade of the most thickly-populated region -of Colombia, the inhabitants of which in the three provinces of -Santander, Boyacá, and Cundinamarca, are over 1,500,000 in number. - -Supposing four steamers to be needed for navigation on the lower river -and on the Meta, to be bought at Ciudad Bolivar at a cost of £10,000 -each, £40,000 would be required under this head. Taking the length of -the railway at 60 kilometres, including the bridges, at a cost of £2,000 -per kilometre, £120,000 would be required for the railway; and supposing -that ten small steam-launches of twenty to thirty tons burden were -started for the rivers on the upper basin, £20,000 would be required—in -all, £180,000 for the whole undertaking. - -The preceding figures are not imaginative, and might, perhaps, be -reduced in actual practice. If it has been possible to raise the capital -required for the construction of a railway of upwards of 200 kilometres -in length along the shores of the Congo, where climate, distance, and -natives combine to establish far more serious obstacles than exist on -the Orinoco, should it not be possible to find the capital for the -establishment of modern means of transportation in a region which offers -far brighter and surer prospects than the Congo? Let it be remembered -that from Colombia and from Venezuela civilized white, coloured and -Indian labour could be found in abundance, and that Europeans engaged in -the undertaking, and provided with steamers, could in two days, if on -the Meta, reach the high and healthy plateaus of Bogotá and find -themselves in a civilized community where they would lack none of the -luxuries or comforts of their own land; and that in the Lower Orinoco -they would have Ciudad Bolivar, to which the same remarks, barring the -advantage of climate, may be applied. The two Governments of Colombia -and Venezuela, equally interested in the development of the Orinoco -basin, might unite their efforts and guarantee in a form satisfactory to -European capitalists the paltry yearly amount required to pay the -service of interest and sinking fund on the £180,000. Taking the -interest at 6, with a sinking fund of 1 per cent., £12,600 yearly would -be required—that is to say, £6,300 for each Government. I know that at -the present moment such a task would be well-nigh impossible, but I also -know that if a sincere effort were made, notwithstanding the universal -feeling of distrust, it would be possible to create securities specially -applicable to this purpose, which would satisfy the most exacting -capitalist. - -In the midst of the daily turmoil and agitation and sanguinary struggle -which constitutes the life of those democracies, these problems, urgent -and vital as they are, pass unheeded; and the more the pity, for in -their solution lies the basis of a permanent peace. Prosperity begets -abhorrence of internal revolutions. The development of Mexico is a case -in point, from which Colombia and Venezuela might take heed. Woe to them -if they do not! The world begins to sicken at the very mention of the -constant strife which converts into a positive hell those regions where -Nature has shown herself prodigal beyond measure in all her gifts. Not -only the valley of the Orinoco, with its boundless prairies, its dense -forests, and its innumerable affluents, but the uplands of the Andine -regions and the plains extending in Venezuela towards the North Atlantic -or Caribbean Sea, and in Colombia to the Pacific Ocean, are coveted by -nations where humanity is overcrowded by races which would fain -establish colonies in those regions. The development of humanity cannot -be stayed; the human wave, even as the stream of water contained by a -dyke, will sooner or later break through the walls that imprison it and -flood the surrounding country. It were well for men animated by real -patriotism in Colombia and in Venezuela to ponder over these -possibilities, so that the two nations might themselves open the -flood-gates for immigration without delay, so that the new-comers would -prove a fresh source of strength and power, helping to build up on the -basis of the now existing nations free and mighty commonwealths, rather -than as conquerors, who (whether they come from the North as wolves in -sheep’s clothing under cover of the Monroe doctrine, or from across the -ocean, driven by necessity stronger than all political conventionality) -would come as masters. - -Now is our accepted time. The moments are counted during which the -danger may be averted and the inevitable turned to account; but, alas! -feuds and errors deep-rooted in medieval soil, luxuriant in this our -twentieth century, darken the minds of men, influence their judgment, -turn away their activity from the real aims that would lead their -nations to greatness, and force them into barbarous struggles which the -world regards with amazement and brands as crimes against mankind. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - -After a week in Ciudad Bolivar, we bethought ourselves of continuing the -journey to the sea. Civilization had reclaimed us for her own, and -rigged in European attire, such as befits the tropics, with all the -social conventionalities once again paramount in our mind, we set forth -on that, the last stage of the journey. We had been, not a nine days’ -but a nine hours’ wonder in the historical town which rears its houses -and churches alongside the narrows of the majestic stream. Early in the -afternoon of a dazzling tropical day, cloudless, blue and hazy from the -very brilliancy of the air, we stepped into the large steamboat that was -to carry us to the neighbouring British island of Trinidad, once also a -Spanish possession. The usual events accompanying the departure of all -steamers from the shore repeated themselves: clanging of chains, -shouting of orders, groans of the huge structure, shrill whistles, and -that trepidation, the dawn as it were of motion, something like a -hesitation of things inert apparently unwilling to be set in motion, -which is the life of matter inanimate; then the steady throbbing of the -machinery, the stroke of the paddles, splash, splash, until regularity -and monotony are attained, and the ship, wheeled into midstream after -describing a broad arc, set the prow eastward with the current to the -ocean. - -We looked at the town as it dwindled indistinct, seeming to sink into -the vast azure of the horizon, swallowed in the scintillating folds of -the blue distance. We sat on the deck as if in a trance. Shortly after -starting, wild Nature reasserted her sway, and the small oasis built by -the hand of man in the heart of the untamed region, seemed to us who -knew how unmeasurable were those forests and those plains, like a tiny -nest perched on the branches of a lofty and over-spreading _ceiba_. A -feeling of superiority over our fellow-passengers unconsciously filled -our breasts. For were we not boon companions, fellow-travellers, tried -and trusted comrades of those rushing waters? Had we not shared their -pilgrimage for days and days, in calm and in storm, in sunshine and in -darkness? Had we not slept on their bosom or travelled upon it for -countless hours, till the secret of their mystery and the joy of their -wandering had penetrated into our very soul? What knew they, the other -travellers of a few hours, of the intimate life of those waters which we -had watched, gathering their strength from all the points of the -compass, swelling the current of the central stream, mingling their life -with it, now as rivulets, now as rivers, now placid in the embrace, now -plunging, foaming, as if loath to loose their identity? Yea, verily, we -were comrades, fellow-pilgrims, with the splendid travelling sea, there -on its final march to the boundless deep. - -Forest and plain, marsh, morass, jungle, succeeded one another in -interminable procession, and the setting sun now broke its ray on the -low-lying hills, now reverberated on the far-off marshes on either side -of the current, tinging them with a crimson glow. Towards sunset the -whistle of the steamer frightened a flock of flamingoes gathered to -roost, as is their wont when the shadows of evening approach. The whole -flock sought refuge in flight, and their widespread wings, as they rose -before us, seemed like a huge transparent pink curtain lifted before our -very eyes, rising higher and higher until it vanished in space. - -Night fell upon the scene. First the stars and then the moon kindled -their beacon fires, dispelling darkness into a semi-obscurity fraught -with mystery, embalmed with the effluvia from the forest and the river. -We felt like a shadow crossing the wilderness. The littleness of self, -the insignificance of the human being, became overwhelming. - -What could it matter if that daring shell with its human freight were -dashed to pieces against a submerged tree and swallowed in the waves? -Nature, impassible, would take no notice of the event; in far-off homes -sorrow would fill the loving hearts. The river would be looked upon as a -grave, wondrous vast, where a dear one had found his rest, but the river -itself would suffer no change, and our world of hopes, ambitions, -infinite longings, would leave no more trace than the smallest bubble of -the floating foam. - -And thus the morrow came. With the light of day the circle of the -horizon broadened; we were out at sea, no trace of land was visible. The -waves tossed the struggling craft tenderly, gliding under its keel, the -wind caressed the flying pennants on the mastheads and seemed to whisper -promises of freedom as it rustled through the rigging. The mighty river -had disappeared, paying its tribute, like a human being to the grave, to -Father Ocean. And the long journey which lay behind us was nothing more -than a dream in our memory, for things dreamt and things lived do so -intermingle their identity in our minds that the attempt to disentangle -their threads were useless. And so we drifted into the broad, -unmeasurable expanse of waters which seemed to palpitate and tremble as -with the touch of life under the glorious rays of the morning sun. - - - THE END - - - BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - ---Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook - is public-domain in the country of publication. - ---In the text versions only, italicized text is delimited by - _underscores_. - ---Corrected a few palpable typographical errors. - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Down the Orinoco in a Canoe, by S. 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