I accepted, and was very politely welcomed by Captain Gamier. He had been as far to the north-west as Vancouver, and was fascinated by all that I told him about the great Atures and Maypures cataracts, about the Orinoco bifurcation and its link with the Amazon. He had followed my progress from reading English newspapers. (134) He introduced me to several of his officers. For over a year I had not met so many well-informed people in one gathering. I was very well treated, and the captain gave me his state room. When you have come from the Casiquiare jungles, with nothing but the company of a narrow circle of missionaries for months, it is a joy to talk to men who have traveled round the world and broadened their minds by seeing so many different things. I left the boat, blessing the career I had devoted my life to.

Red paint is - we could say - the only clothing the Indians use. Two kinds may be distinguished according to how prosperous they are. The common decoration of the Caribs, Otomacs and Yaruros is annatto, which Spaniards call achote. It is the coloring matter extracted from the pulp of Bixa orellana. To prepare this annatto Indian women throw the seeds of the plant into a tub filled with water. They beat this for an hour and then leave the mixture to deposit the coloring fecula, which is an intense brick-red. After pouring off the water they take out the fecula, dry it in their hands and mix it with turtle oil, after which it is shaped into rounded cakes. Another more precious pigment comes from a plant of the Bignoniaceae family, which Bonpland has made known by the name Bignonia chica. It climbs up the tallest trees by attaching its tendrils. Its bilabiate flowers are an inch long and of a pretty violet color. The fruit is a pod filled with winged seeds, some 2 feet long. This bignonia grows wild and abundantly near Maypures. The red chica dye does not come from the fruit but from the leaves when soaked in water. The coloring matter separates itself as a light powder. It is gathered, without being mixed with turtle oil, into little loaves. When heated they give off a pleasant smell of benzoin. Chica, which was not known until our voyage, could even be used in the arts. The chemistry practiced by the savage is essentially the preparation of pigments and poisons, and the neutralization of amylaceous roots.