Jean Chaffanjon (1854 1913) was a natural history teacher in the French colony of Martinique who was commissioned by the French minister of state education and fine arts to explore the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela. The Orinoco had an almost mythical reputation as a source of gold and coffee, and Chaffanjon in 1886 1887 was the first European explorer in the region in almost 100 years. Landing in the city of Guayra, he travelled up two of the continent's largest rivers, the Caura and the Orinoco, documenting the region's geology and his encounters with the indigenous population. His account of...