152 TAHURO INDIANS. 



the Orinoco, after having formed a junction below San Fer- 

 nando by the first bifurcation of the Apure. The Isla del 

 Apurito is twenty-two leagues in length, and two or three 

 leagues in breadth. It is divided by the Cano de la Tigrera 

 and the Cano del Manati into three parts, the two extremes 

 of which bear the names of Isla de Blanco and Isla de los 

 (xarzitas. The right bank of the Apure, below the Apurito, 

 is somewhat better cultivated than the left bank, where the 

 Yaruros, or Japuin Indians, have constructed a few huts 

 with reeds and stalks of palm-leaves. These people, who 

 live by hunting and fishing, are very skilful in killing 

 jaguars. It is they who principally carry the skins, known 

 in Europe by the name of tiger-skins, to the Spanish vil- 

 lages. Some of these Indians have been baptized, but they 

 never visit the Christian churches. They are considered as 

 savages because they choose to remain independent. Other 

 tribes of Yaruros live under the rule of the missionaries, in 

 the village of Achaguas, situated south of the Bio Payara. 

 The individuals of this nation, whom I had an opportunity 

 of seeing at the Orinoco, have a stern expression of counte- 

 nance ; and some features in their physiognomy, erroneously 

 called Tartarian, belong to branches of the Mongol race, 

 the eye very long, the cheekbones high, but the nose pro- 

 minent throughout its whole length. They are taller, 

 browner, and less thick-set than the Chayma Indians. The 

 missionaries praise the intellectual character of the Yaruros, 

 who were formerly a powerful and numerous nation en the 

 banks of the Orinoco, especially in the environs of Cuycara, 

 below the mouth of the G-uarico. We passed the night at 

 Diamante, a small sugar-plantation formed opposite the 

 island of the same name. 



During the whole of my voyage from San Fernando to 

 San Carlos del Bio Negro, and thence to the town of 

 Angostura, I noted down day by day, either in the boat or 

 where we disembarked at night, all that appeared to me 

 worthy of observation. Violent rains, and the prodigious 

 quantity of mosquitos with which the air is filled on the 

 banks of the Orinoco and the Cassiquiare, necessarily occa- 

 sioned some interruptions ; but I supplied the omission by 

 notes taken a few days after. I here subjoin some extracts 

 from my journal. Whatever is written while the objects we 



