government pilot, and your vessel and crew are in imminent danger. It won't do to trifle with these Spaniards, I can tell you, for if you do, they will make short work of the whole party."
Johnston saw the point, and telling the captain of the schooner who the man was, he was permitted to come on board. The arrival of the pilot created quite a commotion, and no little surprise was expressed at the fact of his being a negro. The man, however, understood his business, and man aged the vessel very skilfully. Without his assistance we would never have been able to have ascended the beautiful Orinoco, or have steered the schooner among the numerous islands.
Going up the Orinoco River.
The scenery along the river was truly beautiful, and all admitted that, whatever else the country might be, it was certainly fair to look upon. I had not much confidence, however, that, on closer inspection, it would prove to be the earthly paradise we were searching for, but kept my thoughts to myself, for I knew that there would not be much use in expressing them.
The first village we came to was Coraeppa, where we took on board another pilot, Antonio Silva by name. He was a bright colored half-breed, and, like the negro, was skilful in his business. When he boarded us, the captain exclaimed in disgust, "Good Lord, are all the officials in this country niggers?" A good many of the emigrants were quite as much disgusted as the captain, and seemed to think that if the negroes were of as much importance as they seemed to be in Venezuela, it would have been just as well to have remained at home and fought the battle for supremacy with the free negroes and carpet-baggers on familiar ground.
That night we anchored at Baranco, with a great uncertainty before us as to whether we would be permitted to proceed any farther or not. At this place I caught the first fish, which was a grateful addition to our bill of fare. Some of our people went in bathing, a performance which astonished the natives, who were afraid to venture into the water on account of the alligators, which abounded in rather startling profusion. Others obtained permission to go on shore, and created a sensation by doing so. The ignorant natives, who had no idea who we were, promptly abandoned their houses, and, leaving everything behind them, fled to the forests.
