CHAPTER II.

Journey to Orinoco with despatches.—Adventure with a venomous snake. -An involuntary bath. A huge cayman. The Labarri snake.Dinner party in Angostura.-A too liberal table.-The Governor's uniform.—Dining in shirt-sleeves.-A more sensible uniform.—Publication of the Wanderings.—Reception by the critics.—Sydney Smith. -Swainson's criticism upon the cayman-Truth in the garb of fiction. -Waterton's style of writing.-Quotations.-His favourite authors.— Sense of humour.-How he answered the critics.-Charge of eccentricity. How he was eccentric.-Travels on the Continent.-Shipwreck.-Gallant conduct of Prince Canino.-Lost by gold.-Fall into Dover harbour and narrow escape.-The lancet and calomel.-Judgement of the vampire.-A bad wound.-Bare feet and bad pavement.— Mode of cure.-Accidents at home.-Gunshot wound.-Severe fall and dangerous injuries.-Crowther the bone-setter.-A painful operation.— Ultimate recovery.-A characteristic warning.

DURING his stay in Demerara, he was selected as the bearer of despatches to the Spanish Government in Orinoco, and received the first commission which had been held by any one bearing the name of Waterton since the days of Queen Mary; the commission being dated August 2, 1808.

While passing up the Orinoco river in the fulfilment of this mission, an adventure occurred which had wellnigh deprived the world of the Wanderings.

"During the whole of the passage up the river, there was a grand feast for the eyes and ears of an ornithologist. In the swampy parts of the wooded islands, which abound in this mighty river, we saw waterfowl innumerable; and

when we had reached the higher grounds it was quite charming to observe the immense quantities of parrots and scarlet aras which passed over our heads. The loud harsh screams of the bird called the horned screamer were heard far and near; and I could frequently get a sight of this extraordinary bird as we passed along; but I never managed to bring one down with the gun, on account of the difficulty of approaching it.

"While we were wending our way up the river, an accident happened of a somewhat singular nature. There was a large labarri snake coiled up in a bush, which was close to us. I fired at it, and wounded it so severely that it could not escape. Being wishful to dissect it, I reached over into the bush, with the intention to seize it by the throat, and convey it aboard. The Spaniard at the tiller, on seeing this, took the alarm, and immediately put his helm aport. This forced the vessel's head to the stream, and I was left hanging to the bush with the snake close to me, not having been able to recover my balance as the vessel veered from the land. I kept firm hold of the branch to which I was clinging, and was three times overhead in the water below, presenting an easy prey to any alligator that might have been on the look-out for a meal.

"Luckily a man who was standing near the pilot, on seeing what had happened, rushed to the helm, seized hold of it, and put it hard a-starboard, in time to bring the head of the vessel back again. As they were pulling me up, I saw that the snake was evidently too far gone to do mischief; and so I laid hold of it and brought it aboard with me, to the horror and surprise of the crew. It measured eight feet in length. As soon as I had got a change of clothes, I killed it, and made a dissection of the head.

"I would sometimes go ashore in the swamps to shoot

maroudies, which are somewhat related to the pheasant; but they were very shy, and it required considerable address to get within shot of them. In these little excursions I now and then smarted for my pains. More than once I got among some hungry leeches, which made pretty free with my legs. The morning after I had had the adventure with the Labarri snake, a cayman slowly passed our vessel. All on board agreed that this tyrant of the fresh waters could not be less than thirty feet long."

I ought to state that the Labarri snake here mentioned is one of the most venomous serpents of Guiana, but as it will be fully described in a subsequent page, I shall say no more about it at present. Waterton never feared snakes, even though knowing that their bite is certain death, but the coxswain of the boat, not having such nerve, might well be excused for taking alarm.

A rather amusing incident took place when he had reached his destination.

"On arriving at Angostura, the capital of the Orinoco, we were received with great politeness by the Governor. Nothing could surpass the hospitality of the principal inhabitants. They never seemed satisfied unless we were partaking of the dainties which their houses afforded. Indeed, we had feasting, dancing, and music in superabundance.

"The Governor, Don Felipe de Ynciarte, was tall and corpulent. On our first introduction, he told me that he expected the pleasure of our company to dinner every day during our stay in Angostura. We had certainly every reason to entertain very high notions of the plentiful supply of good things which Orinoco afforded; for, at the first day's dinner, I counted more than forty dishes of fish and flesh. The governor was superbly

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attired in a full uniform of gold and blue, the weight of which alone, in that hot climate, and at such a repast, was enough to have melted him down. He had not half got through his soup before be began visibly to liquefy. I looked at him, and bethought me of the old saying, 'How I sweat! said the mutton-chop to the gridiron.'

"He now became exceedingly uneasy; and I myself had cause for alarm; but our sensations arose from very different causes. He, no doubt, already felt that the tightness of his uniform, and the weight of the ornaments upon it, would never allow him to get through that day's dinner with any degree of comfort to himself; I, on the other hand (who would have been amply satisfied with one dish well done) was horrified at the appalling sight of so many meats before me. Goodbreeding whispered to me, and said; 'Try a little of most of them.' Temperance replied, 'Do so at your peril; and for your over-strained courtesy, you shall have yellow-fever before midnight.'

"At last the Governor said to me, in Spanish, 'Don Carlos, this is more than man can bear. No puedo sufrir tanto. Pray pull off your coat, and tell your companions to do the same; and I'll show them the example.' On saying this, he stripped to the waistcoat; and I and my friends and every officer at table did the same. The next day, at dinner-time, we found his Excellency clad in a uniform of blue Salempore, slightly edged with gold lace."

His tropical Wanderings came to an end in 1825, in which year he published the now famous volume. At first, he received from the critics much the same treatment as did Bruce and Le Vaillant. Critics would not believe that Bruce ever saw a living ox cut up for food, or

that the Abyssinians ate beef raw in preference to cooked. Neither would they believe that Le Vaillant ever chased a giraffe, because, as they said, there was no such animal, and that therefore, Le Vaillant could not have seen it.

Similarly, some of Waterton's statements were received with a storm of derision, more especially his account of the sloth and its strange way of living; of the mode of handling deadly serpents, and above all, his ride on the back of a cayman. There is however one honourable exception in the person of Sydney Smith, who devoted one of his wittiest and happiest essays to a review of the Wanderings and fully recognized the extraordinary powers of Waterton.

According to Sydney Smith, Waterton " appears in early life to have been seized with an unconquerable aversion to Piccadilly, and to that train of meteorological questions and answers which forms the great staple of polite conversation.

"The sun exhausted him by day, the mosquitos bit him by night, but on went Mr. Charles Waterton.. happy that he had left his species far away, and is at last in the midst of his blessed baboons."

Nothing can be better than Sydney Smith's summary of the life of a sloth, who "moves suspended, rests suspended, sleeps suspended, and passes his whole life in suspense, like a young clergyman distantly related to a bishop." Or, than his simile of the box-tortoise and the boa, who "swallows him shell and all, and consumes him slowly in the interior, as the Court of Chancery does a large estate."

Or, what can be happier than the turn he gives to Waterton's account of the toucan?

"How astonishing are the freaks and fancies of nature! To what purpose, we say, is a bird placed in the forests of