250 NATURAL RAFTS. 



H 



the New World. The more imposing and majestic the object* 

 we describe, the more essential it becomes to seize them in 

 their smallest details, to fix the outline of the picture we 

 would present to the imagination of the reader, and to 

 describe with simplicity what characterises the great and 

 imperishable monuments of nature. 



The navigation of the Orinoco from its mouth as far as 

 the confluence of the Anaveni, an extent of 260 leagues, is 

 not impeded. There are shoals and eddies near Muitaco, 

 in a cove that bears the name of the Mouth of Hell (Boca 

 del Infierno) ; and there are rapids (raudalitos) near Cari- 

 chana and San Borja ; but in all these places the river ia 

 never entirely barred, as a channel is left by which boats 

 can pass up and down. 



In all this navigation of the Lower Orinoco travellers 

 experience no other danger than that of the natural rafts 

 formed by trees, which are uprooted by the river, and swept 

 along in its great floods. "Woe to the canoes that during 

 the night strike against these rafts of wood interwoven with 

 lianas ! Covered with aquatic plants, they rest- ible here, 

 as in the Mississippi, floating meadows, the chinampas or 

 floating gardens of the Mexican lakes. The Indians, when 

 they wish to surprise a tribe of their enemies, bring 

 together several canoes, fasten them to each other with 

 cords, and cover them with grass and branches, to imitate 

 this assemblage of trunks of trees, which the Orinoco 

 sweeps along in its middle current. The Caribs are ac- 

 cused of having heretofore excelled in the use of this 

 artifice; at present the Spanish smugglers in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Angostura have recourse to the same expedient 

 to escape the vigilance of the custom-house officers. 



After proceeding up the Orinoco beyond the .Rio Ana- 

 veni, we find, between the mountains of Uniana and Sipapu, 

 the Great Cataracts of Mapara and Quittuna, or, as they 

 are more commonly called by the missionaries, the Raudales 

 of Atures and Maypures. These bars, which extend from 

 one bank to the other, present in general a similar aspect : 

 they are composed of innumerable islands, dikes of rock, 

 and blocks of granite piled on one another and covered with 

 palm-trees. But, notwithstanding a uniformity of aspect, 

 each of these cataracts preserves an individual character. 



