466 IKSUBHECTION OF THE 



by the name of Parima.* Here, as in several other coun- 

 tries of Spanish America, the savages have reconquered 

 what had been wrested from them by civilization, or rather 

 by its precursors, the missionaries. The expedition of the 

 boundaries under Solano, and the extravagant zeal displayed 

 by a governor of Gruiana for the discovery of El Dorado, 

 partially revived in the latter half of the eighteenth century 

 that spirit of enterprise which characterised the Spaniards 

 at the period of the discovery of America. In going along 

 the Bio Padamo, a road was observed across the forests 

 and savannahs (the length of ten days' journey), from 

 Esrneralda to the sources of the Yentuari; and in two 

 days more, from those sources, by the Erevato, the mis- 

 sions on the Bio Caura were reached. Two intelligent 

 and enterprising men, Don Antonio Santos and Captain 

 Bareto, had established, with the aid of the Miquiritares, 

 a chain of military posts on this line from Esmeralda to 

 the Bio Erevato. These posts consisted of block-houses 

 (casas fuertes) , mounted with swivels, such as I have already 

 mentioned. The soldiers, left to themselves, exercised all 

 kinds of vexations on the natives (Indians of peace), who 

 had cultivated pieces of ground around the casas fuertes ; 

 and the consequence was that, in 1776, several tribes formed 

 a league against the Spaniards. All the military posts were 

 attacked on the same night, on a line of nearly fifty leagues 

 in length. The houses were burnt, and many soldiers 

 massacred ; a very small number only owing their preser- 

 vation to the pity of the Indian women. This nocturnal 

 expedition is still mentioned with horror. It was concerted 

 in the most profound secresy, and executed with that spirit 

 o< unity which the natives of America, skilled in con- 

 cealing their hostile passions, well know how to practise 

 in whatever concerns their common interests. Since 1776 

 no attempt has been made to re-establish the road which 

 leads by land from the Upper to the Lower Orinoco, and 

 no white man has been able to pass from Esmeralda to the 



* The name Parima, which signifies water, great water, is applied 

 sometimes, and more especially, to the land washed by the Rio Parima, 

 or Rio Branco f Rio de Aguas Blancas), a stream running into the Rio 

 Negro j sometimes to the mountains (Sierra Parima), which divide tlw 

 Upper and Lower Oriiwco. 



