35ft Qeological Delineation of South AmerlccC. 



■which ctnc can penetrate into the interior of the land In the 

 valley of the River Amazons. 



The^c Gordilleras of the Cataracts riL^e from the longitude- 

 of 70'', and spread out in buch amanne^r that they coni<prc- 

 bend the whole immense tract of country between the riveri- 

 Caura, Erevato^ Cavony, Paraguamusi, Vcntuari, Jao, Pa,- 

 danio, and Manariehey and then ascend south towards the 

 r,oui-ce& of tin" Pasimona, Cache\ ayneris, and t'ababury, 

 towards the forests, where the Portugueze, penetrating into 

 the SpanJs-h district, collect the best sarsaparilla known 

 {Smilav Saysaparillaj.hx^y:.). In this district the cordilleras 

 of the Cataracts are above ItZO miles in breadth. Their 

 continuation more towards the east^ between the longitude 

 of 68" and ()0" west from Paris is little know^3. I pro- 

 ceeded with astronomical instruments only, as far as ]>io 

 Guapo, which discharges itself into the Orinoco,, opposite 

 the Cerro de la Cauclilla, in longitude fis"' 33' west fronv 

 Paris. The Indians of Calarapeni and Maquiri tares-, who 

 reside in the small mission of Esn)eralde came fifteen miles 

 further east over the mountains GuanajKi &nd Yauiariquin' 

 to the Camio Chiguire; but neither the Europeans,. nor lr>- 

 dians with whom Europeans- hav^e had any intercourse, are 

 acq-uainted with this source of tlie Orinocoy which' is here 

 called CiM>no Paragurs, and is scarcely 130 or 200 toises in 

 breadth,, whereas at Boca de Apure, in latitude 7° 32' 20", 

 it is 4G32 toises, as I mysell! found. The wildness of the 

 Indians of Guaicas, who are only four feet in height, but 

 who ai'c a very white and warlike people, and particularly the 

 savage state of th« Guajarib':)s, greater men-eaters than any 

 of the other nations w hich we visited, prevents any one from, 

 penetnitins; over tlie small cataracts (Raudal de Guajaribos) 

 east from Chiguire, unless a military expedition were un- 

 dertaken en puipose. But by the: wonderful journey 

 imdertakea by D. Antonio Santos,, who niarried Onotho, 

 and who drc-^sed sometimes as a C;irib, and sometimes as 

 a Macacv, whose languages he spoke, from Orinoco (the 

 mtJulh of the Rio Caronis) to the small lake Parima and 

 the river Amazon, we have obtained info-cmation respect- 

 ing the continuation of the cordillera of the Cataracts. 

 Under the latitude of from 4° to 5'^ and longitude 63", it 

 becomes so narrow ttet it is scarcely 60 miles in breadth, 

 ft assumes here the name of Ccrrania de (^uimiropaca an* 

 Pacaraimo, and fornis a chaiii of not very high ridges, by 

 which the waters were divi'ded. The water of the northern 

 declivity, the Nocapray^ Paraguamuci, Benamo, and Ma- 

 zurini, flow towards the Ociiioco and Rio Esquibo ; the. 



vs;utcri5- 



