Now, when we had reached this comparatively safe breathing-place--safe, at all events, for the moment--I changed my mind about leaving or attempting to leave the country.

Since boyhood I had taken a very peculiar interest in that vast and almost unexplored territory we possess south of the Orinoco, with its countless unmapped rivers and trackless forests; and in its savage inhabitants, with their ancient customs and character, unadulterated by contact with Europeans.

To visit this primitive wilderness had been a cherished dream; and I had to some extent 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.