152 VICISSITUDES OF TRAVELLING.

the currents to his bare coast, sees in the moon plains
covered with forests. The Indian of the forests of
Oroonoko there beholds open savannahs, where the
inhabitants are never stung by mosquitoes.”
Another source of suffering to the travellers,
especially while traversing the vast steppes or
Llanos of these rivers, was the intense thirst occa-
sioned by the heat and drought. One of the most
striking scenes, on arriving at an encampment, was
the dispersion of the animals, mules, and horses, in
search of water. The poor brutes were set at
liberty to go whither instinct directed in the
savannah ; and no sooner were they released than
they rushed, their tail raised, their head thrown
back, running against the wind, stopping, from
time to time, as if they were exploring space, and
at length announcing, by prolonged neighings, the
neighbourhood of water. On one of these occa-
sions, M. Humboldt says, ‘‘ we followed our mules
in search of a pool. After having passed two
nights on horseback, and sought in vain by day for
some shelter from the ardour of the sun beneath
the tufts of the murichi palm-trees, we had ar-
rived before night at a little farm called El Cayman
(the alligator). It was a solitary house in the
steppes, surrounded by a few small huts, covered
with reeds and skins. We were covered with dust
and tanned by the sandy wind, which burns the