THE CHIEF JAVTTA. 



shrub in flower, or bearing fruit; it appears to belong to the 

 family of the leguminous plants, the chemical properties of 

 which are singularly varied. We dreaded so much the 

 sufferings to which we had been exposed, that we constantly 

 kept some branches of the uzao in our boat, till we reached 

 San Carlos. This shrub grows in abundance on the banks 

 of the Pimichin. Why has no remedy been discovered for 

 the irritation produced by the sting of the zancudos, as well 

 as for that occasioned by the aradores or microscopic acari ? 

 In 1755, before the expedition for fixing the boundaries, 

 better known by the name of the expedition of Solaiio, the 

 whole country between the missions of Javita and San Bal- 

 thasar was regarded as dependent on Brazil. The Portuguese 

 had advanced from the liio Negro, by the portage of the Cano 

 Pimichin, as far as the banks of the Term. An Indian chief 

 of the name of Javita, celebrated for his courage and his 

 spirit of enterprise, was the ally of the Portuguese. He 

 pushed his hostile incursions from the Kio Jupura, or 

 Caqueta, one of the great tributary streams of the Amazon, 

 by the rivers Uaupe and Xie, as far as the black waters of 

 the Temi and the Tuamini, a distance of more than a 

 hundred leagues. He was furnished with letters patent, 

 which authorised him " to bring the Indians from the forest, 

 for the conquest of souls." He availed himself amply of 

 this permission ; but his incursions had an object which was 

 not altogether spiritual, that of making slaves to sell to the 

 Portuguese. When Solano, the second chief of the expedi- 

 tion of the boundaries, arrived at San Fernando de Atabapo, 

 he had Javita seized, in one of his incursions to the banks of 

 the Temi. He treated him with gentleness, and succeeded 

 in gaining him over to the interests of the Spanish govern- 

 ment by promises that were not fulfilled. The Portuguese, 

 who had already formed some stable settlements in these 

 countries, were oriven back as far as the lower part of the 

 Itio Negro ; and the mission of San Antonio, ot which the 

 more usual name is Javita, so called after its Indian founder, 

 was removed farther north of the sources of the Tuamini, to 

 the spot where it is now established. This captain, Javita, 

 was still living, at an advanced age, when we proceeded to the 

 Rio Negro. He was an Indian of great vigour of mind an<J 

 body. He spoke Spanish with facility, and preserved a certain 



VOL. II, 2 A 



