even prepared myself for such an adventure by mastering more than
one of the Indian dialects of the northern states of Venezuela.
And now, finding myself on the south side of our great river,
with unlimited time at my disposal, I determined to gratify this
wish. My companion took his departure towards the coast, while I
set about making preparations and hunting up information from
those who had travelled in the interior to trade with the
savages. I decided eventually to go back upstream and penetrate
to the interior in the western part of Guayana, and the Amazonian
territory bordering on Colombia and Brazil, and to return to
Angostura in about six months' time. I had no fear of being
arrested in the semi-independent and in most part savage region,
as the Guayana authorities concerned themselves little enough
about the political upheavals at Caracas.

The first five or six months I spent in Guayana, after leaving
the city of refuge, were eventful enough to satisfy a moderately
adventurous spirit. A complaisant government employee at
Angostura had provided me with a passport, in which it was set
down (for few to read) that my object in visiting the interior
was to collect information concerning the native tribes, the
vegetable products of the country, and other knowledge which
would be of advantage to the Republic; and the authorities were
requested to afford me protection and assist me in my pursuits.
I ascended the Orinoco, making occasional expeditions to the
small Christian settlements in the neighbourhood of the right
bank, also to the Indian villages; and travelling in this way,
seeing and learning much, in about three months I reached the
River Metal. During this period I amused myself by keeping a
journal, a record of personal adventures, impressions of the