470 MISSION OF SANTA BARBARA. 





vallations, that remind us of the fortified camps (the pro- 

 tended cities of vast extent) of the ancient and modern 

 nomad tribes of Asia. In the oriental plains of South 

 America, the force of vegetation, the heat of the climate, 

 and the too lavish gifts of nature, have opposed obstacles 

 still more powerful to the progress of human civilization. 

 Between the Orinoco and the Amazon I heard no mention 

 of any wall of earth, vestige of a dyke, or sepulchral 

 tumulus ; the rocks alone show us (and this through a great 

 extent of country), rude sketches which the hand of man 

 has traced in times unknown, and which are connected with 

 religious traditions. 



Before I quitted the wildest part of the Upper Orinoco, 

 I thought it desirable to mention facts which are impor- 

 tant only when they are considered in their connection 

 with each other. AD. I could relate of our navigation from 

 Esmeralda to the mouth of the Atabapo would be merely 

 an enumeration of rivers and uninhabited places. From 

 the 24th to the 27th of May, we slept but twice on land ; 

 our first resting-place was at the confluence of the Bio 

 Jao, and our second below the mission of Santa Barbara, 

 in the island of Minisi. The Orinoco being free from 

 shoals, the Indian pilot pursued his course all night, aban- 

 doning the boat to the current of the river. Setting apart 

 the time which we spent on the shore in preparing the rice 

 and plantains that served us for food, we took but thirty- 

 five hours in going from Esmeralda to Santa Barbara. The 

 chronometer gave me for the longitude of the latter mission 

 70 3' ; we had therefore made near four miles an hour, 

 a velocity which was partly owing to the current, and partly 

 to the action of the oars. The Indians assert, that the cro- 

 codiles do not go up the Orinoco above the mouth of the 

 Rio Jao, and that the manatis are not even found above the 

 cataract of Maypures. 



The mission of Santa Barbara is situated a little to the 

 xvest of the mouth of the Bio V^entuari, or Yenituari, exa- 

 mined in 1800 by Father Francisco Valor. "We found in 

 this small village of one hundred and twenty inhabitants 

 some traces of industry ; but the produce of this industry ig 

 of little profit to the natives ; it is reserved for the monks, or, 

 as they say in these countries, for the church and the con- 



