icle of clothing on their bodies. Above
the platform was a roof of palm leaves, below which were hung a number
of hammocks, of various sizes, the small ones containing children, and
under them were a variety of other articles, while two canoes were made
fast to the crossbeams which afforded support to the structure. The
flames from the fire lighted up the figures of the natives, and cast a
ruddy glare on the trunks of the trees, the dark foliage, the
surrounding water, and on our canoe. As we approached, the men
perceiving us, started up and seized their lances. Guessing that they
understood Spanish, I shouted `Amigo! amigo!' and paddling on towards
them, they were soon satisfied that we came with no hostile intent; and
as Tom made fast the canoe to a ladder which rested against the
platform, they stretched out their hands to assist us up. Though unable
to speak any language but their own, they seemed to comprehend that we
were officers; and when I uttered the word `navio,' they nodded to show
us that they knew we had come from a ship out in the river, and that we
wished to return to her. As I had no wish to pass the night among them,
I tried to explain to them that I would reward them well, if they would
at once pilot us back. After some time I got them, as I supposed, to
understand my meaning, for they again nodded their heads, and pointed in
the direction from which we had come, showing me, that when I fancied I
had been paddling out towards the stream, I had in reality been
directing my course inland.

"They offered us some of their meal, consisting of broiled fish and
cakes, made, I suspect, from the flour, or pith of the very palm-trees
on which the platform was erected. They gave us also some palm-wine; we
did not ask how it was made, but it tasted very well. Indeed, our hosts
showed every wish to be friendly. The flooring of this strange
habitation was, I found on examination, composed of the split trunks of
small palms; the hearth consisted of a mass of clay thick enough to
prevent the heat from injuring the wood below. The people I afterwards
found from the consul, belonged to a tribe of the Guarinis, who are the
only inhabitants of this submerged region of the Orinoco. When the
waters subside, they take up their abode on shore. Their only vegetable
food is what they obtain from the palm-trees, and they subsist generally
on turtle, tortoises, and the flesh of the manatee or cowfish, and other
fish