330 SAU FERNANDO DE ATABAPO. 



astronomical observations. One arm of the Orinoco, (the 

 Cassiquiare,) running from north to south, falls into the 

 Gruamia, or Bio Negro, which, in its turn, joins the Maranon, 

 or river Amazon. The most natural way, therefore, to go 

 from Angostura to Grand Para, would be to ascend the 

 Orinoco as far as Esmeralda, and then to go down the 

 Cassiquiare, the Eio Negro, and the Amazon ; but, as the 

 Rio Negro in the upper part of its course approaches very 

 near the sources of some rivers that fall into the Orinoco 

 near San Fernando de Atabapo (where the Orinoco abruptly 

 changes its direction from east to west to take that from 

 south to north), the passage up that part of the river between 

 San Fernando and Esmeralda, in order to reach the Eio 

 Negro, may be avoided. Leaving the Orinoco near the 

 mission of San Fernando, the traveller proceeds up the little 

 black rivers (the Atabapo, the Temi, and the Tuamini), and 

 the boats are carried across an isthmus six thousand toises 

 broad, to the banks of a stream (the Caiio Pimichin) which 

 flows into the Eio Negro. This was the course which we 

 took. 



The road from San Carlos to San Fernando de Atabapo 

 is far more disagreeable, and is half as long again by the 

 Cassiquiare as by Javita and the Cano Pimichin. In this 

 region I determined, by means of a chronometer by Ber- 

 thoud, and by the meridional heights of stars, the situation 

 of San Balthasar de Atabapo, Javita, San Carlos del Eio 

 Negro, the rock Culimacavi, and Esmeralda. When no 

 roads exist save tortuous and intertwining rivers, when 

 little villages are hidden amid thick forests, and when, in a 

 country entirely flat, no mountain, no elevated object is 

 visible from two points at once, it is only in the sky that we 

 can read where we are upon the earth. 



San Fernando de Atabapo stands near the confluence of 

 three great rivers; the Orinoco, the Gruaviare, and the 

 Atabapo. Its situation is similar to that of Saint Louis or of 

 New Madrid, at the junction of the Mississippi with the 

 Missouri and the Ohio. In proportion as the activity of 

 commerce increases in these countries traversed by immense 

 rivers, the towns situated at their confluence will necessarily 

 become bustling ports, depots of merchandise, and centre 

 points of civilization. Father Ghimilla confesses, that in 



