BAW TIBNAHDO DE ATABAPO. 479 



cultivated region of Venezuela, were naturally the first to 

 receive missionaries, and with them some germs of social 

 life. Corresponding to the Carony and the Caura, which 

 flow toward the north, are two great tributary streams 

 of the Upper Orinoco, that send their waters toward the 

 south ; these are the Padamo and the Yentuari. No village 

 has hitherto risen on their banks, though they offer advan- 

 tages for agriculture and pasturage, which would be sought 

 in vain in the valley of the immense river to which they are 

 tributary. In the centre of these wild countries, where 

 there wul long be no other road than the rivers, every pro- 

 ject of civilization should be founded on an intimate know- 

 ledge of the hydraulic features of the country, and the 

 relative importance of the tributary streams. 



In the morning of the 26th of May we left the little 

 village of Santa Barbara, where we found several Indians of 

 Esmeralda, who had come reluctantly, by order of the 

 missionary, to construct for him a house of two stories. 

 During the whole day we enjoyed the view of the fine 

 mountains of Sipapo, which rise at a distance of more than 

 eighteen leagues in the direction of north-north-west. The 

 vegetation ot the banks of the Orinoco is singularly varied 

 in this part of the country ; the aborescent ferns* descend 

 from the mountains, and mingle with the palm-trees of the 

 plain. We rested that night on the island of Minisi ; and, 

 after having passed the mouths of the little rivers Queja- 

 muna, Ubua, and Masao, we arrived, on the 27th of May, at 

 San Fernando de Atabapo. We lodged in the same house 

 which we had occupied a month previously, when going up 

 the Rio Negro. We then directed our course towards 

 the south, by the Atabapo and the Temi; we were now 

 returning from the west, having made a long circuit by the 

 Cassiquiare and the Upper Orinoco. 



We remained only one day at San Fernando de Atabapo, 

 although that village, adorned as it was by the pirijao palm- 

 tree, with fruit like peaches, appeared to us a delicioua 



* The geographical distribution of these plants is extremely singular. 

 Scarcely any are found on the eastern coast of Brazil. (See the interest, 

 ing work of Prince Maximilian of Neuwied, " Rei-.e nach HnuUien," voL 

 I p. 274.) 



