494 MAJESTIC BHTEE SCEITEET. 



self in vain ; and regretted that I was not provided with a 

 mercurial horizon. On the 7th of June, good absolute alti- 

 tudes of the sun gave me 69 40' for the longitude. "We 

 had advanced from Esmeralda 1 17' toward the west, and 

 this chronometric determination merits entire confidence on 

 on account of the double observations, made in going and 

 returning, at the Great Cataracts, and at the confluence of 

 the Atabapo and of the Apure. 



The situation of the mission of Uruana is extremely pic- 

 turesque. The little Indian vulage stands at the foot of a 

 lofty granitic mountain. Bocks everywhere appear in the 

 form of pillars above the forest, rising higher than the tops 

 of the tallest trees. The aspect of the Orinoco is nowhere 

 more majestic, than when viewed from the hut of the mis- 

 sionary, Fray Ramon Bueno. It is more than two thousand 

 six hundred toises broad, and it runs without any winding, 

 like a vast canal, straight toward the east. Two long and 

 narrow islands (Isla de Uruana and Isla vieja de la Manteca) 

 contribute to give extent to the bed of the river ; the two 

 banks are parallel, and we cannot call it divided into differ- 

 ent branches. The mission is inhabited by the Ottomacs, 

 a tribe in the rudest state, and presenting one of the most 

 extraordinary physiological phenomena. They eat earth; 

 that is, they swallow every day, during several months, very 

 considerable quantities, to appease hunger, and this practice 

 does not appear to have any injurious effect on their health. 

 Though we could stay only one day at Uruana, this short 

 space of time sufficed to make us acquainted with the pre- 

 paration of the poya, or balls of earth. I also found some 

 traces of this vitiated appetite among the Gruamos ; and be- 

 tween the confluence ol the Meta and the Apure, where 

 everybody speaks of dirt-eating as of a thing anciently 

 known. I shall here confine myself to an account of what 

 we ourselves saw or heard from the missionary, who had 

 been doomed to live for twelve years among the savage and 

 turbulent tribe of the Ottomacs. 



The inhabitants of Uruana belong to those nations of the 

 savannahs called wandering Indians (Indios andantes), who, 

 more difficult to civilize than the nations of the forest 

 (Indios del monte), have a decided aversion to cultivate the 

 land, and live almost exclusively by hunting and fishing. 



