Throughout his entire journey through the Lower Orinoco the traveler faces only one danger: the natural rafts formed by drifting trees uprooted by the river. Woe to the canoes that at night strike one of these rafts of tangled lianas and tree trunks! When Indians wish to attack an enemy by surprise they tie several canoes together and cover them with grass to make it seem like a tangle of trees. Today Spanish smugglers do the same to avoid customs in Angostura.

Until the second half of the eighteenth century the great Apure, Payare, Arauca and Meta rivers were hardly known in Europe by their names, and were obviously far less known than in preceding centuries when the valiant Felipe de Urre (90) and the conquerors of Tocayo crossed the llanos seeking the great city of El Dorado and the rich country of Omagua, the Timbuktu of the New World, beyond the Apure river. Such daring expeditions could take place only on a war footing. The weapons meant to protect the new colonizers were ceaselessly turned against the unhappy Indians. Following that period of violence and misery two Indian tribes, the Cabres and the Orinoco Caribs, became masters of those parts no longer being devastated by the Spaniards. Only poor monks were allowed to advance south of the steppes. The Venezuelan coast became isolated and the slow conquest of the Jesuit missionaries followed the banks of the Orinoco. It is hard to believe that the city of San Fernando de Apure, some 50 leagues from the coast, was not founded until 1789.

Smallpox, which has so devastated other areas of America that Indians burn their huts, kill their children and avoid any grouping of tribes, is not one of the reasons for the depopulation of the Raudales. In the Upper Orinoco this plague is almost unknown. Desertion from Christian missionaries must be sought more in the Indian's hate for the discipline, the poor food, the awful climate, and the unpardonable custom that Indian mothers have of using poisonous herbs to avoid pregnancy. Many of the women do not want to have babies. If they do have children they are not only exposed to jungle dangers but also to absurd superstitions. When twins are born family honor demands that one be killed. Indians say: 'To bring twins into the world is to be exposed to public scorn, it is to resemble rats, sarigues and the vilest animals. And, 'Two children born at the same time cannot belong to the same father. If a newborn child shows some physical deformity the father kills it immediately. They want only well-formed, robust children because deformities indicate some evil spell. Among the Orinoco Indians the father returns home only to eat or sleep in his hammock; he shows no affection for his children or his wife, who are there only to serve him.

The mail-boats (correos) that cross from La Coruìa to Havana and Mexico had been due for over three months. It was thought they had been attacked by English ships near by. I was in a hurry to reach Cumanà and cross to Veracruz so on the 26th of August I hired an open boat called a lancha. This lancha smuggled cocoa to the island of Trinidad, so its owner was not afraid of the enemy ships blockading the Spanish ports. We loaded our plants, instruments and monkeys and hoped that it would be but a short journey from the mouth of the Neveri river to Cumanà. But no sooner were we in the narrow canal that separates the mainland from the rocky islands of Borracha and Chimanas than we bumped into an armed ship, which ordered us to stop, and fired a round at us from far off. The boat belonged to a pirate from Halifax. By his accent and build I recognized a Prussian from Memel among his crew. Since I had been in America I had not once spoken my mother tongue, and would have preferred a more peaceful opportunity to do so. But my protests were to no avail, and we were led aboard the pirate ship. They ignored the passports issued by the governor of Trinidad allowing cocoa smuggling, and considered us a lawful prize. As I spoke English fairly well I was, able to bargain with the captain, and stopped him from taking us to Nova Scotia by persuading him to put us ashore on the nearest Coast. While I was arguing about our rights in the' cabin I heard a noise on deck. A sailor rushed in and whispered something to the captain, who left quite upset. Luckily for us an English warship (the Hawk) was also passing by. It had signaled the pirate boat, but on receiving no answer had shot a round of artillery and sent a midshipman aboard. He was a polite young man who led me to hope that our lancha with its cocoa would be released. He invited me to accompany him, assuring me that Captain John Gamier of the Royal Navy could offer better accommodation than the ship from Halifax.

I have mentioned flying fish in order to draw the attention of naturalists to the extraordinary size of their natatory bladder. As this bladder takes up more than half the fish's body volume it probably contributes to its lightness. One could say that this reservoir of air 15 more adapted for flying than swimming. Flying fish, like almost all animals with gills, enjoy the possibility of breathing for a long time with the same organs both in air and in water. They pass much of their time in the air, although flying does not make them less wretched. If they leave the sea to escape from the voracious dolphin they meet frigate-birds, albatrosses and other birds in the air, which seize them in mid-flight. Thus, on the Orinoco banks, herds of capybara (Cavia capybara) rush from the water to escape crocodiles and fall prey to jaguars waiting for them on the banks. I doubt that flying fish leap from the water solely to escape their predators. Like swallows they shoot forward in thousands in straight lines, always against the waves. In our climate, by a clear-water river struck by the sun's rays, we often see single fish, with no reason to fear anything, leap into the air as if they enjoyed breathing air. Why aren't these games more frequent and prolonged with flying fish who, thanks to their pectoral fins and extreme lightness, fly easily in the air?