212 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



re-establish the road which leads by land from the Upper 

 to the Lower Orinoco, and no white man has been able 

 to pass from Esmeralda to the Erewato. It is certain, 

 however, that in the mountainous lands between the 

 sources of the Padamo and the Ventuari (near the sites 

 called by the Indians Aurichapa, Ichuana, and Irique), 

 there are many spots where the climate is temperate, and 

 where there are pasturages capable of feeding numerous 

 herds of cattle. The military posts were very useful in 

 preventing the incursions of the Caribs, who from time 

 to time carried off slaves, though in very small numbers, 

 between the Erewato and the Padamo. They would 

 have resisted the attacks of the natives if, instead of 

 leaving them isolated and solely to the control of the sol- 

 diery, they had been formed into communities governed 

 like the villages of neophyte Indians. 



A few hours after leaving the Erewato we came across 

 a rude Indian rancho or hut. It had all the appearance 

 of having been abandoned only a few weeks before. 

 Maite, without hesitation, pronounced it to have been the 

 temporary dwelling-place of a party of hunters from the 

 "Waiomgomo village on the Merevari range. He said that 

 when Isidor, some other Indians, and himself lived for 

 several years at a spot a few miles higher up, which 

 he subsequently pointed out to me, the Waiomgomos in 

 their hunting expeditions had never, to his knowledge, 

 wandered so far from their village. From the number of 

 tapir and fish bones, and the quantity of feathers scattered 

 about in the vicinity of the abandoned hut, the Indian 

 hunters must have had quite a fine time of it. 



On March 25, while getting through a short rapid, 

 we very nearly lost the small boat and her cargo. 

 Luckily the articles with which she was loaded were not 



