226 MYSTERIOUS SOUND? 



end th )se records of nature, that it is in our power to con- 

 sult. "We are ignorant whether the human race, which at 

 the time of the discovery of America scarcely formed a few 

 feeble tribes on the east of the Cordilleras, had already 

 descended into the plains ; or whether the ancient tradition 

 of the ' great waters,' which is found among the nations of 

 the Orinoco, the Erevato, and the Caura, belong to other 

 climates, whence it has been propagated to this part of the 

 New Continent. 



On the llth of April, we left Carichana at two in the 

 afternoon, and found the course of the river more and more 

 encumbered by blocks of granite rocks. "We passed on the 

 west the Cano Orupe, and then the great rock known by 

 the name of Piedra del Tigre. The river is there so deep, 

 that no bottom can be found with a line of twenty-two 

 fathoms. Towards evening the weather became cloudy 

 and gloomy. The proximity of the storm was marked by 

 squalls alternating with dead calms. The rain was violent, 

 and the roof of foliage, under which we lay, afforded but 

 little shelter. Happily these showers drove away the mos- 

 quitos, at least for some time. "We found ourselves before 

 the cataract of Cariven, and the impulse of the waters was 

 so strong, that we had great difficulty in gaining the land. 

 "We were continually driven back to the middle of the cur- 

 rent. At length two Salive Indians, excellent swimmers, 

 leaped into the water, and having drawn the boat to shore 

 by means of a rope, made it fast to the Piedra de Carichana 

 Vieja, a shelf of bare rock, on which we passed the night. 

 The thunder continued to roll during a part of the night ; 

 the swell of the river became considerable ; and we were 

 several times afraid that our frail bark would be driven from 

 the shore by the impetuosity of the waves. 



The granitic rock on which we lay is one of those, where 

 travellers on the Orinoco have heard from time to time, 

 towards sunrise, subterraneous sounds, resembling those 

 of the organ. The missionaries call these stones laxas de 

 musica. ' It is witchcraft (cosa de bruxas),' said our young 

 Indian pilot, who could speak Spanish. "We never our- 

 selves heard these mysterious sounds, either at Carichana 

 Vieia, or in the Upper Orinoco ; but from information given 

 us by witnesses worthy of belief, the existence of a pheno- 



