276 Tiipfrom Angostura to the 



turned, about four P.M. On the road, met a despatch, an- 

 nouncing U 's relapse. 



9th. Spent the morning with our patient, who was much 

 better : his fever had changed from quotidian to tertian ; and, 

 as this latter is not considered alarming, he reckoned himself 

 convalescent. He told us, that when he came down from 

 the pure air of New Granada to the plains of the Apure, he had 

 been affected thus for eight months successively, yet was 

 obliged to be in motion all the time. — The whole country about 

 the Apure, being flooded in the rainy season, ague is very 

 common. A young lady of the family informed us, that one 

 season Paez being obliged to winter in the Savanna, she had 

 been confined to a hut built upon stilts. — ^The missions were 

 originally settled by the capuchins in 1721, in which year Caroni 

 was built ; their number continued to increase until about 

 30 years ago, since when no new establishment has been made. 

 Tunieremo, the last, settled in 1788, still exists, being com- 

 posed of the Guayano tribe; but the three settled in 1782-3, 

 Cura, Curucuy, and Arechica, being composed of Guaycas, 

 a mountain-tribe addicted to nomadic habits, have been wholly 

 abandoned; and Ayma and Santa Clara will probably soon 

 share the same fate. The Guayanos, being of a milder and 

 perhaps more servile disposition, and better disposed to civi- 

 lization, form the bulk of the population. The Guaycas, who 

 occupied eight, are a spirited tribe of more open and manly 

 countenance, and fond of liberty. During the late conscrip- 

 tion, they mostly took to the woods: some have returned, and 

 others been forcibly brought back ; but the major part have 

 resumed the savage habits they had been imperfectly weaned of. 

 The Caraibbes, who occupied seven, are of that sturdy race that 

 so long resisted the Spanish arms. It is wonderful how the 

 padres could ever have surmounted their antipathy : but this 

 tribe was the second that they attempted between 1748 and 63. 

 Though pretty well broken in, they retain many features of their 

 former character, have resisted the forced levies, and, in 

 some instances, united into predatory bands, and, when pur- 

 sued, blood has generally been shed. The main body of the 



