Capuchin Missions of the Caroui. 269 



and, with the addition of our hammocks, the house was as well 

 furnished as most in the place : the walls were studded round 

 with pegs, on which our chattels were suspended. — After dinner 

 sallied out to survey the town. Upata was settled in 1762, as 

 the intended capital of the missions, and residence of the Spanish 

 inhabitants ; who, though necessary for defensive purposes, were 

 studiously excluded by the padres. It stands beautifully on a 

 rising ground, the centre of an amphitheatre of hills open to the 

 south-east only, where the savanna stretches away some 

 leagues. It is about midway between the Orinoco and the 

 southern missions, and, though in a valley, may be said to stand 

 near the centre of the elevated ridge, which divides the waters 

 of the Orinoco and Essequibo. Thus it affords an admirable 

 military position, and a focus for the traffic of the district, for 

 which purposes it has been chosen with great judgment. The 

 fertile hills around supply all its vegetable wants, and a consi- 

 derable surplus for exportation ; the plains to the south-eastward 

 abound in cattle. The town is laid out in rectangular streets, 

 but the houses are mean, and mostly of clay, with no symmetry, 

 elegance, or ventilation. A stream of fine water winds round 

 two-thirds of the town, and, though now dry at times, might, 

 with little labour, be made to yield an ample supply. The soil 

 of the savanna, though rocky, is in some places rich ; and the 

 pasture greatly improvable. In 1803 the town mustered 769 

 inhabitants, and from the number of unfinished houses, must 

 have been rapidly-increasing until the breaking out of the revo- 

 lution. The little conucos in the neighbourhood, contained 



probably 2,000 more. In the afternoon, visited U , and 



administered comfort in the shape of calomel ; he was labouring 

 under a quotidian intermittent, which came on about nine A.M., 

 and lasted until three P.M. Had suffered much from want of 

 medicine; for although the neighbouring hills were covered with 

 cinchona, and many persons had even prepared the extract, none 

 knew its properties, or thought of applying it to the cure of the 

 prevailing disorder. The commissioner attributed his own 

 attack to a visit to Guayana Vieja and San Miguel, where the 

 pestilence had raged in full violence ; but it does not appear 

 Vol. VIII. T 



