PROGRESS DOWN THE ORINOCO. 245 



most vindictive cover the nail of the thumb with the 

 curare poison, the sUffhtest scratch beuig thus suffi- 

 cient to produce death. When this crime is per- 

 petrated at night they throw the body into the river. 

 "Every time," said the monk, " that I see the wo- 

 men fetch water from a part of the shore to which 

 they do not usually go for it, I suspect that a murder 

 has been committed in my mission." ^ ^ ,^ 



On the 7th June the travellers took leave of Father 

 Ramon Bueno, whom Humboldt eulogizes as the 

 only one of ten missionaries of Guiana whom they 

 had seen who appeared to be attentive to any thing 

 that regarded the natives. The night v/as passed at 

 the island of Cucurupara, to the east of which is the 

 mouth of the Cano de la Tortuga. On its southern 

 bank is the almost deserted station of San Miguel 

 de la Tortuga, in the neighbourhood of which, ac- 

 cording to the Indians, are otters with a very fine 

 fur, and lizards with two feet. 



From the island of Cucurupara to Angostura, the 

 capital of Guiana, a distance of little less than 328 

 miles, the travellers were only nine days on the 

 water On the 8th June they landed at a farm op- 

 posite the mouth of the Apure, where Humboldt ob- 

 tained some good observations of latitude and longi- 

 tude ; and on the 9th met a great number of boats 

 laden with goods, on their way to that river. Here 

 Don Nicolas Soto, who had accompanied them on 

 their voyage to the Rio Negro, took leave and re- 

 turned to his family. As they advanced the popu- 

 lation became more considerable, consisting almost 

 exclusively of whites, negroes, and mulattoes. On 

 the nth they passed the mouth of the Rio Caura, 

 near which is a small lake formed in 1790 by the 

 sinking of the ground in consequence of an earth- 

 quake. The Boca del Infierno and the Randal de 

 Camiseta, a series of whirlpools and rapids caused 

 by a chain of small rocks, were the only remarkable 

 features that occurred until they reached Angostura. 



X3 



