516 VALLEY OF CAURA. 



hundred and fifty souls. San Luis de Guaraguaraico is A 

 colony of negroes, some freed and others fugitives from 

 Essequibo. This colony merits the particular attention of 

 the Spanish Government, for it can never be sufficiently 

 recommended to endeavour to attach the slaves to the soil, 

 and suffer them to enjoy as farmers the fruits of their agri- 

 cultural labours. The land on the Caura, for the most part 

 a virgin soil, is extremely fertile. There are pasturages for 

 more than 15,000 beasts; but the poor inhabitants have 

 neither horses nor horned cattle. More than five-sixths 

 of the banks of the Caura are either desert, or occupied by 

 independent and savage tribes. The bed of the river is 

 twice choked up by rocks: these obstructions occasion 

 the famous Raudales of Mura and of Para or Para, the 

 latter of which has a portage, because it cannot be passed 

 by canoes. At the time of the expedition of the boun- 

 daries, a small fort was erected on the northern cataract, 

 that of Mura; and the governor, Don Manuel Centurion, 

 gave the name of Ciudad de San Carlos to a few houses, 

 which some families consisting of whites and mulattoes, 

 had contructed near the fort. South of the cataract of 

 Para, at the confluence of the Caura and the Erevato, 

 the mission of San Luis was then situated; and a road 

 by land led thence to Angostura, the capital of the pro- 

 vince. All these attempts at civilization havo been fruit- 

 less. No village now exists above the Eaudal of Mura; 

 and here, as in many other parts of the colonies, the natives 

 may be said to have reconquered the country from the 

 Spaniards. The valley of Caura may become one day or 

 other highly interesting from the value of its productions, 

 and the communications which it affords with the Rio 

 Ventuari, the Carony, and the Cuyuni. I have shown above 

 the importance of the four tributary streams which the 

 Orinoco receives from the mountains of Parima. Near the 

 mouth of the Caura, between the villages of San Pedro de 

 Alcantara and San Francisco de Aripao, a small lake of four 

 hundred toises in diameter was formed in 1790, by the 

 sinking of the ground, consequent on an earthquake. It 

 was a portion of the forest of Aripao, which sunk to the 

 depth of eighty or a hundred feet below the level of tl?e 

 neighbouring land. The trees remained green for several 





