l about him.
Some call him the achi, others the vasatri, or great devil; and he is
exactly like a big man, only covered with dark hair."

The doctor burst into a fit of laughter. "If you caught him you would
find your man of the woods turn out to be a huge bear, whose feet
somewhat resemble those of a man. I have never heard of a large monkey
in this country--though, of course, such may exist in regions
unexplored."

"I am afraid, doctor, you are very sceptical," observed the padre.

"Not at all, my friend," he replied; "I am simply, as a philosopher,
bound not to believe unless I have sufficient evidence of a fact: and in
this case it appears to me that such evidence is not forthcoming. For
instance, as to the fact of a great flood which once covered the earth,
independent of the statement made by Scripture--"

"Ignorant as our people are, we know that such an event took place,"
broke in the Indian. "Once upon a time the sea flowed over the whole of
the plain, and all the people perished with the exception of a man and
woman, who floated about in a boat, and at last arrived safely on a high
mountain called Tamanaca. On landing they cast behind them over their
heads the fruits of the mauritia palm-tree, when the seeds contained in
those fruits produced men and women, who repeopled the earth. Some of
you may have seen, on the lofty cliffs which rise above the Orinoco and
other rivers, curious figures sculptured on their faces, at a height
which no human being could now reach. How could they have been carved,
unless the waters had risen up to them and thus enabled our fathers to
reach them in boats?"

"The belief you entertain, my friend, exists in all parts of the world,"
observed the doctor; "and I doubt not that it has its origin in truth."

The Indian looked satisfied; and then went on to tell us of the wars
which his people waged in former days--when they lived near the ocean--
with the white men who first came over to their country. The most
ferocious and daring of these--indeed, he appears to have been almost a
madman--was Lopez de Aguirri. Descending the Amazon from Peru, he made
his way along the coast across the mouth of the Orinoco and through the
Gulf of Paria, till he entered the Caribbean Sea, and ultimately reached
the island of Margarita. From thence he returned to the continent, and
established himself in the city of Valencia, where he proclaimed the
independence of the country and the dep