[1] Vide New York “Herald,” of July 17th and Aug. 5th, 1867.

[2] Vide New York “World,” of Aug. 5th, 1866.

[3] Author of “Brazil and the Brazilians.”

[4] “Such is the state to which colonial politics and mal-administration have during three centuries reduced a country which, for natural wealth, may vie with all that is most wonderful on earth.”

Humboldt, Travels, vol. iii., c. 27.

[5] The late discoveries made in Venezuelian Guiana prove that the statements of Sir Walter Raleigh and other adventurers of his time were not without foundation, as gold of the finest quality and in the greatest abundance, is now gathered over an extent of territory surpassing in richness and natural resources the famous California and Australia placers.

[6] “Rambles and Scrambles in North and South America.”, by Edward Sullivan, Esq. London, 1852.

[7] Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.

[8] The writer is mistaken; the Saddle stands four or five miles east of this point, which is called La Cumbre, or the Summit.

[9] Centigrade thermom.

[10] Humboldt—Travels.

[11] Travels in Peru and India.

[12] Gosse’s “Romance of Natural History.”

[13] Romance of Natural History.

[14] A species of Mimosa.

[15] Slavery has since been abolished in Venezuela.

[16] “Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.”

[17] Andres Bello.

[18] Sullivan.—Rambles and Scrambles in North and South America.

[19] LinnÆus, in his enthusiasm for the delightful beverage obtained from the cacao bean, named the plant that produces it theobroma—food for the gods.

[20] Journeys across the Pampas.

[21] Mons. de Lavayesse, in his interesting work on Venezuela, makes some pertinent remarks on this subject worthy of the consideration and study of learned physiologists. “Why is it,” he says, “that individuals proceeding from a mixture of African and indigenous American blood, have greater strength, finer forms, more intellectual faculties and moral energy, than the Negro or Indian? Why, although the white be, in general, superior in strength of body, mental powers, and in moral force, to the aboriginal American and to the negro—why, I ask, are the individuals born of the union of a white with an Indian woman, (the Mestizos, for instance,) inferior in mental and corporeal qualities to the Zambos? Why are the Mestizos generally distinguished by finer figures, agreeable countenances, and in mildness and docility of their dispositions? Why is the mulatto, son of a white and a negress, superior to the Zambo in intellectual faculties, but his inferior in physical? Why is it, that when those races are mixed, their progeny is remarkable for a more healthy and vigorous constitution, and for more vital energy, than the individuals born in the same climate of indigenous European or African blood, without mixture?”

[22] See Humboldt, Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.

[23] Since the above first appeared in print, I find this fact corroborated by Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in his interesting “Sketches on the Nat. Hist. of Ceylon,” as practised by the natives of that island.

[24] Rastrero—a native of El Rastro—literally, a mean rogue.

[25] The eyes of crocodiles are green.

[26] Centigrade Thermom. = 97° to 126° Fah.

[27] Wanderings in South America.

[28] Dr. Lindley, speaking of the properties of Aristolochias in general, and more especially of A. serpentaria—a North American species—observes: “As its name implies, it is used as an antidote to serpent bites, a quality in which several other species participate, among which may be mentioned A. trilobata, a Jamaica plant, also employed as a sudden and powerful sudorific; and the Cartagena A. unguicida, concerning which Jaquin writes, that the juice of the root, chewed and introduced into the mouth of a serpent, so stupefies it that it may for a long time be handled with impunity; if the reptile is compelled to swallow a few drops, it perishes in convulsions.”—Vegetable Kingdom.

[29] The Romance of Natural History—Second Series, chap. ix.

[30] Tio Tigre and Tio Conejo—Uncle Tiger and Uncle Rabbit. These are the heroes of endless adventures, the mother’s never-failing source of amusement to her children, supposed to have taken place in the woods of Venezuela.

[31] Waterton’s “Wanderings in South America.”

[32] Gosse: The Romance of Natural History.

[33] The pulpy covering of the seeds of Bixa orellana.

[34] Gosse: The Romance of Natural History—First Series, p. 281.

[35] Raised by a warlike tribe of Indians inhabiting the peninsula of La Goagira, on the Gulf of Maracaibo.

[36] The pig-pen.

[37] Amateur.

[38] Sheep-skin.

[39] For explanation, see page 231.

[40] Howling monkey.

[41] Horsemen furnished with lazos.

[42] Nevertheless, Paez took particular care to preserve the breed of cattle on the plains of Apure. Notwithstanding that he was continually engaged in war, he issued most effective orders to prevent its extinction. The origin of all the cattle estates which are at present to be found in Venezuela is to be traced to the Apure plains.

[43] Uncle. A name by which the Llaneros frequently address Paez.

[44] Recollections of a Service of Three Years during the War of Extermination in the Republics of Venezuela and Colombia. London, 1828. See also Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela. London, 1831.

[45] Autobiografia del General JosÉ A. Paez. Nueva York, 1867.

[46] See page 62.

[47] Natural History of Ceylon.

[48] Gosse, Romance of Natural History.

[49] Travels on the Rio Negro.

[50] “Piscidea erithryna and Jacquinia armillaris.”—Humboldt.

[51] Guerior? This was the name of a town founded at the confluence of the Paragua and Caroni rivers, long since destroyed or abandoned.—The Author.

[52] Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.

[53] Keymis, the lieutenant of Raleigh.

[54] The first of the voyages undertaken at Raleigh’s expense was in 1595; the second, that of Laurence Keymis, in 1696; the third, described by Thomas Masham, in 1597; and the fourth, in 1617. The first and the last only were performed by Raleigh in person. This celebrated man was beheaded October the 29th, 1618.—Humboldt.

[55] The predictions of the old Missionary of the Orinoco have been singularly verified in these latter times by the still more recent discoveries in Peru; for, as I write this, the news comes from that country that, in the mountains of Chanchamayo, Upper Amazon, “some gold mines have been discovered, which, for their abundance and richness, surpass those of California.”—Nacional, of Lima.

[56] Jorge de Spira (George von Speier) and Felipe de Utre (Utre, Von Huten), as well as Federmann, were all Germans.

[57] See map, at frontispiece.

[58] Conquest of Peru, vol. ii., p. 164.

[59] “All fables have some real foundation; that of El Dorado resembles those myths of antiquity which, travelling from country to country, have been successively adapted to different localities.”—Humboldt, vol. iii., p. 26, Bohn’s Edition.

[60] Travels to the Equinoctial Regions.

[61] The Naturalist on the Amazon.

[62] A kind of beer made from Indian-corn.

[63] Humboldt, Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.

[64] The Naturalist on the Amazons, vol. ii., p. 260. London, 1863.

[65] See London AthenÆum of August 3, 1863, which contains a full review of both books.

[66] South American Sketches, by Thos. Woodbine Hinchliff, F. R. G. S.

[67] Rambles in North and South America.

[68] La Terre avant le DÉluge.

[69] See Darwin, Geology of the Pampas, pp. 129-171. Murray, 1852.

[70] Leon de los Llanos, or Leon de Payara—the appellation given to General PÆz by the people after the action of San Juan de Payara in 1837, when he defeated with his body-guard of sixty Llaneros the forces of the rebel chieftain Farfan, numbering one thousand.

[71] Linneus, in his enthusiasm for the splendid family of palms, calls them the princes of the vegetable kingdom.

[72] Palms of the Amazon and Rio Negro.

[73] Wallace, Palms of the Amazon and Rio Negro.

[74] The followers of a sect founded in Syria by the fanatical pillar-saint, Simeon Sinanites.—Humboldt.

[75] San Antonio, an old castle in CumanÁ, where General Paez was kept in durance for nine months by the late ruler of Venezuela, General JosÉ T. Monagas.