l articles which he had brought off to
administer to his creature comforts. The only fresh provisions that we
were able to procure at the place were three turtles, one of which was
immediately put to death; the others were slung in hammocks, and secured
to temporary stanchions fixed to the bulwarks; we kept the reptiles
alive by covering them with damped swabs which were continually wetted
as the heat absorbed the water. We had to wait till the next morning,
when the sea-breeze set up the river, to enable us to stem the muddy
current. The shores on either side, as far as the eye could reach, were
covered with dense masses of mangrove trees which rose up out of the
water, no firm ground being visible on either side; the scenery, indeed,
was not attractive, though we supposed that in time we should come to
something more interesting. It was satisfactory to find that we did
make headway, though slowly.

"I have said nothing about Senhor Guedes and his better half. He
allowed her to come out to meals; but he sat opposite to her at table,
and fixed a glance at her all the time, and frowned savagely if he saw
her for a moment turn her eyes towards me. Had I not suggested, for the
sake of her health, that she should be allowed to come on deck, I
believe he would have kept her shut up in the cabin for the whole
voyage. When she did appear she was closely veiled, and he stood by her
the whole time, looking expressively angry when any of the officers
approached her, though as she did not speak English, few of them could
exchange a word with her. Before we got into the river, he had some
reason for keeping her in her cabin; for the poor lady was very ill.
Several times I heard her Bluebeard of a husband scolding her fearfully,
and I felt strongly inclined to pitch him overboard. She recovered
rapidly when she got into the river, and was able to hold her own, and
prove that she could scold as well as he could.

"I won't bother you with an account of our daily progress, which was as
I have said, dreadfully slow. I had expected to witness grand and
majestic views on the Orinoco, the second river in point of size in
South America; but its very width is a drawback from any beauty it might
possess; and although aware that the trees on either side are of great
height, they are so far off as to appear like mere bulrushes growing out
of the water, while the mountains of which we caught sight were at such
a distance as to produce