THE FOREST OF SANTA MARIA.

85

spring on their way. which the Indians continually repeated, led them to think they understood a little Spanish. In the eyes of a native every white man was a monk; for in the Missions the colour of the skin characterized the monk, more than the colour of the garment. In vain they questioned the Indians respecting the length of the way: they answered, si and no, without the travellers being able to attach any precise sense to their replies. This made them the more impatient, as their smiles and gestures indicated their wish to direct them; and the forest seemed at every step to become thicker and thicker. At length they separated from the Indians; their guides were able to follow them only at a distance, because the beasts of burden fell at every step in the ravines.

The words si, patre, n), patre,

After journeying for several hours, continually descending on blocks of scattered rock, they found themselves unexpectedly at the outlet of the forest of Santa Maria. A savannah stretched before them farther than the eye could reach. On the left was a narrow valley, extending as far as the mountains of the Guacharo, and covered with a thick forest. Looking downward the eyes of the travellers rested on the tops of the trees, which, at eight hundred feet below the road, formed a carpet of verdure of dark and uniform tint. They passed the night at one of the king's houses already mentioned.

They were desirous of continuing their journey eastward still farther, but learning that the roads were impassable in consequence of the torrents of rain that had fallen, and that they would be likely to lose the plants which they had already gathered, they resolved to em bark at Cariaco, and return to Cumana by the gulf,

instead of passing between the island of Margareta and the isthmus of Araya. They accordingly started from the mission of Catuaro, and proceeded to the town of Cariaco, where they embarked in a canoe, on the morning of the 24th. Quitting the town they sailed westward along the river of Carenicuar, which ran through gardens and plantations of cotton trees. They saw the Indian women on the banks washing their clothes with the fruit of the soap-berry. Contrary winds beset them in the gulf of Cariaco. The rain fell in torrents, and the thunder rolled very near. Swarms of flamingoes, egrets, and cormorants filled the air, seeking the shore, whilst the alcatras alone continued peaceably to fish in the middle of the gulf. They landed till evening, and then resumed their voyage, under a misty sky. In the morning they saw the vultures perching on the cocoatrees, in flocks of forty or fifty.

At last they reached Cumana.

CHAPTER III.

TOWARDS THE ORINOCO.

HUMBOLDT and Bonpland remained a month at Cumana, employing themselves in preparing for a visit to the Orinoco and the Rio Negro. They had to choose such instruments as could be most easily transported in narrow boats; and to engage guides for an inland journey of ten months, across a country without communica tion with the coasts. The astronomical determination of places being the most important object of this undertaking, Humboldt felt desirous not to miss the observation of an eclipse of the sun, which was to be visible at the end of October: and in consequence preferred remaining till that period at Cumana, where the sky was generally clear and serene. It was now too late to reach the banks of the Orinoco before October; and the high valleys of Caracas promised less favourable opportunities on account of the vapours which accumulated round the neigh bouring mountains.

He was, however, near being compelled by a deplorable occurrence, to renounce, or at least delay for a long time, his journey to the Orinoco. On the 27th of October, the day before the eclipse, he and Bonpland went as usual to take the air on the shore of the gulf, and to observe the instant of high water, which in those parts

88

FIGHT WITH THE ZAMBO.

was only twelve or thirteen inches. It was eight in the evening, and the breeze was not yet stirring. They crossed the beach which separated the suburb of the Guayqueria Indians from the landing-place. Here Humboldt heard some one walking behind them, and on turning he saw a tall Zambo, naked to the waist. He held almost over Humboldt's head a stick of palm-tree wood, enlarged to the end like a club. Humboldt avoided the stroke by leaping towards the left; but Bonpland, who walked on his right, was less fortunate. He did not see the Zambo as soon as Humboldt did, and re ceived a stroke above the temple, which levelled him to the ground. The travellers were alone, without arms, half a league from any habitation, on a vast plain bounded by the sea. The Zambo, instead of attacking Humboldt, moved off slowly to pick up Bonpland's hat, which, having somewhat deadened the violence of the blow, had fallen off and lay at some distance. Alarmed at seeing his companion on the ground, and for some moments senseless, Humboldt thought of him only. He helped Bonpland to raise himself, and pain and anger doubled his strength. They ran towards the Zambo, who, either from cowardice, or because he perceived at a distance some men on the beach, did not wait for them, but ran off in the direction of a little thicket of cactus. He chanced to fall in running, and Bonpland, who reached him first, seized him round the body. The Zambo drew a long knife; and in this unequal struggle the travellers would infallibly have been wounded, if some Biscayan merchants, who were taking the air on the beach, had not come to their assistance. The Zambo seeing himself surrounded, thought no longer of defence. He again

ran away, and they pursued him through the thorny cac tuses. At length, tired out, he took shelter in a cow-house, whence he suffered himself to be quietly led to prison.

Bonpland was seized with fever during the night; but being endowed with great energy and fortitude he continued his labours the next day. The stroke of the club had extended to the top of his head, and he felt its effect for the space of two or three months. When stooping to collect plants, he was sometimes seized with giddiness, which led him to fear that an internal abscess was forming. Happily these apprehensions were unfounded, and the symptoms gradually disappeared.

During a few days which preceded and followed the eclipse of the sun, very remarkable atmospherical phenomena were observable. From the 10th of October to nightfall, a reddish vapour

the 3rd of November, at arose in the horizon, and covered, in a few minutes, with a veil more or less thick, the azure vault of the sky. Sometimes, in the midst of the night, the vapours disappeared in an instant; and at the moment when Humboldt had arranged his instruments, clouds of brilliant whiteness collected at the zenith, and extended towards the horizon. On the 18th of October these clouds were so remarkably transparent, that they did not hide stars even of the fourth magnitude. He could distinguish so perfectly the spots of the moon, that it might have been sup posed its disk was before the clouds.

After the 28th of October, the reddish mist became thicker than it had previously been. The heat of the nights seemed stifling, though the thermometer rose only to 78°. The breeze, which generally refreshed the air from eight or nine o'clock in the evening, was no longer