We spent the night on the left bank of the Orinoco, at the foot of a granite hill. In this deserted place there had once stood the San Regis mission. We dearly wanted to find a spring in Baraguan for the river water smelled of musk and had a sweetish, unpleasant taste. The Indians said, 'It is due to the bark' they meant coriaceous skin - 'of the rotting crocodiles. The older they are, the more bitter their bark is.