142 COMPLICATED EVILS.

of Pemichin. Following the current, they shot
into the Rio Negro, on which they descended to
Fort St Charles. From this point again they re-
mounted by the Cassiquiari to the river Oronooko,
and reached the mission of Hismeralda, whence
they descended on the swelling stream to 1ts mouth.
This navigation down tle Oronooko was the most
painful and oppressive. They suffered from want
of provisions during the day, and were drenched
with torrents of rain during the night. Forced to
seek shelter or a miserable subsistence among the
woods, they were incessantly tormented by mos-
quitoes and countless varieties of noxious and loath-
some insects. Nor could they venture to seek
rehef by bathing their parched bodies in the flood,
since voracious fish and crocodiles watched them
on every side. After escaping such complicated
evils, and the dangerous effects of the exhalations
caused by the burning sun, Humboldt and Bon-
pland returned to Cumana by the plains of Cari and
the mission of the Caribs, a race of men quite dis-
tinct from any other, and perhaps, next to the
Patagonians, the largest and stoutcst in the whole
world.

Such is the outline given of the first expedition
of these two young men. The bare statement
makes us feel what heroic courage and dauntless
zeal must have inspired them. “Tantus amor,’