178 A CAEIB CHIEF. 



founded in 1749 by Father Gili, the Jesuit, author of the 

 Storia delV Orinoco, published at Rome. This missionary 

 learned in the Indian tongues, lived in these solitudes during 

 eighteen years, till the expulsion of the Jesuits. To form a 

 precise idea of the savage state of these countries it must be 

 recollected that Father Gili speaks of Carichana,* which 

 is forty leagues from Encaramada, as of a spot far 

 distant; and that he never advanced so far as the first 

 cataract in the river of which he ventured to undertake the 

 description. 



In the port of Encaramada we met with some Caribs of 

 Panapana. A cacique was going up the Orinoco in his 

 canoe, to join in the famous fishing of turtles' eggs. His 

 canoe was rounded toward the bottom like a bongo, and 

 followed by a smaller boat called a cu/riara. He was seated 

 beneath a sort of tent, constructed, like the sail of palm- 

 leaves. His cold and silent gravity, the respect with 

 which he was treated by his attendants, everything denoted 

 him to be a person of importance. He was equipped, 

 however, in the same manner as his Indians. They were all 

 equally naked, armed with bows and arrows, and painted 

 with onoto, which is the colouring fecula of the Bixa orellana. 

 The chief, the domestics, the furniture, the boat, and the 

 sail, were all painted red. These Caribs are men of an 

 almost athletic stature; they appeared to us much taller 

 than any Indians we had hitherto seen. Their smooth and 

 thick hair, cut short on the forehead like that of choristers, 

 their eyebrows painted black, their look at once gloomy and 

 animated, gave a singular expression to their countenances. 

 Having till then seen only the skulls of some Caribs of the 

 "West India Islands preserved in the collections of Europe, 

 we were surprised to find that these Indians, who were of 

 pure race, had foreheads much more rounded than they are 

 described. The women, who were very tall, and disgusting 



are scattered in our maps as if by chance. It is pretended that the 

 Mission of Guaja affords a very rare example of the composition of two 

 Spanish words. The word Encaramada means things raised one upon 

 another, from encaramar, ' to raise up.' It is derived from the figure 

 of Tepupano and the neighbouring rocks : perhaps it is only an Indian 

 word caramana, in which, as in manati, a Spanish signification was 

 believed to be discovered. 



* Saggio di Storia Americana, vol. i. p. 122. 



