HINDEANCE TO OUB JOTTBWET. 407 



Brevato. It is certain, however, that in tbe mountainous 

 lands, Detween the sources of the Padamo and the Ventuari 

 (near the sites called by the Indians Aurichapa, Ichuana, 

 and Irique) there are many spots where the climate is 

 temperate, and where there are pasturages capable of feed- 

 ing numerous herds of cattle. The military posts were 

 very useful in preventing the incursions of the Caribs, who, 

 from time to time carried off slaves, though in very small 

 numbers, between the Erevato and the Padamo. They 

 would have resisted the attacks of the natives, if, instead 

 of leaving them isolated and solely to the control of the 

 soldiery, they had been formed into communities, and go- 

 verned like the villages of neophyte Indians. 



We left the mission of Esmeralda on the 23rd of May. 

 Without being positively ill, we felt ourselves in a state 

 of languor and weakness, caused by the torment of in- 

 sects, bad food, and a long voyage, in narrow and damp 

 boats. We did not go up the Orinoco beyond the 

 mouth of the Rio Guapo, which we should have done, if 

 we could have attempted to reach the sources of the river. 

 There remains a distance of fifteen leagues from the Gruapo 

 to the Raudal of the Guaharibos. At this cataract, which is 

 passed on a bridge of lianas, Indians are posted armed with 

 bows and arrows, to prevent the whites, or those who come 

 from their territory from advancing westward. How could we 

 hope to pass a point where the commander of the Eio Negro, 

 Don Francisco Bovadilla, was stopped when, accompanied by 

 his soldiers, he tried to penetrate beyond the Grehette ?* The 

 carnage then made among the natiTes has rendered them 

 more distrustful, and more averse to the inhabitants of 

 the missions. It must be remembered that the Orinoco 

 had hitherto offered to geographers two distinct problems, 

 alike important, the situation of its sources, and the mode 

 of its communication with the Amazon. The latter problem 

 formed the object of the journey which I have described ; 

 with respect to the discovery of" its sources, that remains 

 to be done by the Spanish and Portuguese governments. 



Our canoe was not ready to receive us till near three 

 o'clock in the afternoon, "it had been filled with innu 

 * See p. 461. 



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