A vast number of these birds had
joined, near our station, a flock of parraka pheasants. They had great
difficulty in climbing up the steep banks; they attempted it several
times without using their wings. We drove them before us, as if we had
been driving sheep. The zamuro vultures raise themselves from the
ground with great reluctance.
We were singularly struck at the small quantity of water which the Rio
Apure furnishes at this season to the Orinoco. The Apure, which,
according to my measurements, was still one hundred and thirty-six
toises broad at the Cano Rico, was only sixty or eighty at its mouth.*
(* Not quite so broad as the Seine at the Pont Royal, opposite the
palace of the Tuileries, and a little more than half the width of the
Thames at Westminster Bridge.) Its depth here was only three or four
toises. It loses, no doubt, a part of its waters by the Rio Arichuna
and the Cano del Manati, two branches of the Apure that flow into the
Payara and the Guarico; but its greatest loss appears to be caused by
filtrations on the beach, of which we have before spoken. The velocity
of the Apure near its mouth was only 3.2 feet per second; so that I
could easily have calculated the whole quantity of the water if I had
taken, by a series of proximate soundings, the whole dimensions of the
transverse section.
We touched several times on shoals before we entered the Orinoco. The
ground gained from the water is immense towards the confluence of the
two rivers. We were obliged to be towed along by the bank. What a
contrast between this state of the river immediately before the
entrance of the rainy season, when all the effects of dryness of the
air and of evaporation have attained their maximum, and that autumnal
state when the Apure, like an arm of the sea, covers the savannahs as
far as the eye can reach! We discerned towards the south the lonely
hills of Coruato; while to the east the granite rocks of Curiquima,
the Sugar Loaf of Caycara, and the mountains of the Tyrant* (Cerros
del Tirano) began to rise on the horizon. (* This name alludes, no
doubt, to the expedition of Antonio Sedeno. The port of Caycara,
opposite Cabruta, still bears the name of that Conquistador.) It was
not without emotion that we beheld for the first time, after long
expectation, the waters of the Orinoco, at a point so distant from the
coast.
CHAPTER 2.19.
JUNCTION OF THE APURE AND THE ORINOCO.
MOUNTAINS OF ENCARAMADA.
URUANA.
BARAGUAN.
CARICHANA.
MOUTH OF THE META.
ISLAND OF PANUMANA.
On leaving the Rio Apure we found ourselves in a country presenting a
totally different aspect.
