From La Coruña to the 36th degree of latitude we had scarcelyseen any living creature apart from sea swallows and a few dolphins. Wesearched in vain for seaweed and mollusks. On the 11th of June we werestruckby a curious sight that later we would see often in the Pacific. We reacheda zone where the sea seemed covered with an enormous amount of jellyfish. boat could hardly move, though the jellyfish floated towards thesouth-east four times faster than the current. This procession lasted some forty-five minutes; then we saw a fewscattered and exhausted ones struggling to follow the main bunch, as iftired of their journey.

The Río Negro and the Jupura are two tributaries of the Amazon comparable in length to the Danube, whose upper parts belong to Spain and whose lower reaches are occupied by Portugal. In these majestic rivers people have gathered in those places where civilization is most ancient. The banks of the Upper Jupura or Caqueta have been cultivated by missionaries who came down from the mountains of Popayan and Neiva. From Mocoa to the confluence with Caguan there are many Christian settlements, while in the Lower Jupura the Portuguese have founded hardly a few villages. Along the Río Negro, on the other hand, the Spaniards have not been able to rival their neighbors. How can they rely on a people so distanced from has the province of Caracas? Steppes and virtually deserted jungle some 160 leagues thick separate the cultivated parts of the river bank from the four missions of Maroa, Tomo, Davipe and San Carlos.

The Chaimas have attractive white teeth like all who lead a very simple life, but not as strong as negro teeth. The early explorers noted their custom of blacking their teeth with plant juices and quicklime; today this custom has disappeared. I doubt whether the custom of blacking their teeth had anything to do with odd ideas about beauty or a remedy against toothache. It could be said that Indians do not know toothache, and Spaniards who live in the Tropics do not suffer from this pain either.