338 THE RIO 



situations of the Christian settlements on the Atabapo, the 

 Ohiayavsro, and the Caqueta.* 



Everything changes on entering the Bio Atabapo ; the 

 constitution of the atmosphere, the colour of the waters, and 

 the form of the trees that cover the shore. You no longer 

 suffer during the day the torment of mosquitos ; and the long- 

 legged gnats (zancudos) become rare during the night. Be- 

 yond the mission of San Fernando these nocturnal insects 

 disappear altogether. The water of the Orinoco is turbid, 

 and loaded with earthy matter ; and in the coves, from the 

 accumulation of dead crocodiles and other putrescent sub- 

 stances, it diffuses a musky and faint smell. We were some- 

 times obliged to strain this water through a linen cloth before 

 we drank it. The water of the Atabapo, on the contrary, is 

 pure, agreeable to the taste, without any trace of smell, brown- 

 ish by reflected, and of a pale yellow by transmitted light. 

 The people call it light, in opposition to the heavy and 

 turbid waters of the Orinoco. Its temperature is generally 

 two degrees, and when you approach the mouth of the Rio 

 Temi, three degrees, cooler than the temperature of the Upper 

 Orinoco. After having been compelled during a whole year 

 to drink water at 27 or 28, a lowering of a few degrees in 

 the temperature produces a very agreeable sensation. I 

 think this lowering of the temperature may be attributed 

 to the river being less broad, and without the sandy beach, 

 the heat of which, at the Orinoco, is by day more than 50, 

 and also to the thick shade of the forests which are traversed 

 by the Atabapo, the Temi, the Tuamini, and the G-uainia, or 

 Bio Negro. 



The extreme purity of the black waters is proved by their 

 limpidity, their transparency, and the clearness with which 

 they reflect the images and colours of surrounding objects. 

 The smallest fish are visible in them at a depth of twenty or 

 thirty feet ; and most commonly the bottom of the river 

 may be distinguished, which is not a yellowish or brownish 

 mud, like the colour of the water, but a quartzose and 

 granitic sand of dazzling whiteness. Nothing can be com- 

 pared to the beauty of the banks of the Atabapo. Loaded 

 with plants, among which rise the palms with feathery 

 leaves; the banks are reflected in the waters, and this 

 * The Caqueta bears, lower down, the name of the Yupurs. 





