436 A. MONKISH REVOLUTION. 



to a place of proscription. This great distance of the coast 

 from the scene of this revolution led the monks to hope that . 

 their crime would remain long unknown beyond the Great 

 Cataracts. They wished to gain time to intrigue, to negotiate, 

 to frame acts of accusation, and employ the little artifices by 

 which, in every country, the invalidity of a first election may 

 be proved. Pray Grutierez de Aguilera languished in his 

 prison at Esmeralda, and fell dangerously ill from the double 

 influence of the excessive heat, and the continual irritation of 

 the mosquitos. Happily for the fallen power the monks did 

 not remain united. A missionary of the Cassiquiare conceived 

 serious alarms respecting the issue of this affair ; he dreaded 

 being sent a prisoner to Cadiz, or, as they say in the colonies, 

 having his name on the list (baxo parti do de registro). Fear 

 overcame his resolution, and he suddenly disappeared. 

 Indians were placed on the watch at the mouth of the Ata- 

 bapo, at the Great Cataracts, and wherever the fugitive was 

 likely to pass on his way to the Lower Orinoco. Not- 

 withstanding these precautions, he arrived at Angostura, 

 and then reached the college of the missions of Piritu ; de- 

 nounced his colleagues ; and was appointed, in recompense 

 of this information, to arrest those with whom he had con- 

 spired against the president of the missions.* At Esme- 

 ralda, where the political events that have agitated Europe 

 for thirty years past have not yet been heard of, lively in- 

 terest is still felt in an event which is called " the sedition of 

 the monks," (el alboroto de los frailes.) In this country, as 

 in the East, no conception is formed of any other revolutions 

 than those that are made by rulers themselves ; and we have 

 just seen that the effects are not very alarming. 



If the villa of Esmeralda, with a population of twelve or 

 fifteen families, be at present considered as a frightful place of 

 abode, this must be attributed to the want of cultivation, the 

 distance from every other inhabited country, and the exces- 



* Two of the missionaries, considered as the leaders of the insurrection, 

 were embarked at Angostura, in order to be tried in Spain. The vessel 

 in which they were conveyed became leaky, and put into Spanish Harbour 

 in the island of Trinidad. The governor Chacon intereated himself in the 

 fate of the monks ; they were pardoned a violent proceeding somewhat 

 inconsistent with monastic discipline, and were again employed in the mis- 

 sions. I was acquainted with them both during my abode in South America, 



