Padre Figueroa, in his Relaciones de las Misiones en el País de los Maynas, writes of similar phenomena observed among the Andes near the Amazon. [↑]
[26] Since writing the above I have discovered that both Antonio Raimondi of Lima, Peru, and Col. Geo. E. Church had arrived independently at a similar conclusion to my own. “The Andes,” writes Col. Church, “at least within the tropics, are at times a gigantic electric battery, and so highly charged that they are very dangerous to cross.”—The Geographical Journal, pp. 341, 342, April, 1901. [↑]
CHAPTER VII
THE LLANOS OF COLOMBIA
No sooner had our launch reached the landing place, than we bounded ashore, eager for information about our mules and their drivers. We asked the sable matron who, with her equally sable daughters, waited at the brink to greet us, if the mules had come. She replied laconically, “No, Señor.” “Have you heard anything about them?” “No, Señor.” “Is there anyone here,” and I glanced at the swarthy youth hard by, “that would be willing, if well rewarded, to go forward and hasten the arrival of men and mules?” “No, Señor.”
What was to be done? We could not continue our journey alone and afoot, even if we were disposed to leave our baggage behind us. And it soon became evident that it would not be safe to remain long at Barrigón. There was but one rude hut there, and that was surrounded by mud and pools of water covered by “Spawn, weeds and filth and leprous-scum”—certainly not a very inviting place to abide any length of time.
Besides, the family had nothing to eat, at least they said they had not, except a few platanos, and these they required for their own use. We had almost exhausted the supply we had brought from Trinidad, and the little that was still left, we intended for our three-days trip to Villavicencio. We were not sure that we could get anything on the way, and we did not wish to run any risk of being without food where it might be most needed.
Something had to be done, and that quickly, if we did not wish to expose ourselves to the pangs of hunger and the danger of fever in that filthy, miasmatic hole. In the dry season, we might return to Cabuyaro, where we could secure horses or mules, and go thence to our next objective point, Villavicencio. During the rainy season, however, this was impossible. We had been told the night before, that several of the caños and rivers between Cabuyaro and Villavicencio were quite impassable, as there were neither bridges nor ferries, and that the currents were so swift that it was quite out of the question for man or beast to cross them by swimming.
We were certainly in a quandary, if not in a very serious predicament. It was useless to go backwards, unless we wished to return to Orocué, and thence to Trinidad. Even if we returned to Orocué, we could not get a steamer down the river for several months, and to make the long trip to Ciudad Bolivar in a bongo was not to be thought of. We were confronted by the first really grave difficulty of our journey, and when we considered all the circumstances, it was enough to depress the stoutest heart.