124 UP THE OEINOCO, 



entered the Strait of Baraguan, where the Orinoco nar- 

 rows to a mile in width, with a current so strong that we 

 were compelled to land and pull up by towage. Having 

 made the passage, we halted at the base of the picturesque 

 granitic hills of Baraguan, which stretch along the eastern 

 shore, and give their name to the strait. The huge masses 

 of rocks, often disposed in columnar form, seemed as if 

 piled up by art ; but only the agencies of Nature have 

 here been at work. By tlie process of decomposition, al- 

 ways rapid in the tropics, the softer parts of the rock are 

 removed, vvdiile the harder portions, worn away more slow- 

 ly, are left standing above the general rock-surface. Upon 

 the Upper Orinoco we frequently observed stones, nicely 

 poised one upon another, forming tall pillars like some 

 ancient ruins, which have been produced in the manner 

 above described. On the mountain-slope at Atures we 

 saw a stone wall — the remains of a dike — over three feet 

 in height and two in thickness, which, left bare by the 

 crumbling and removal of the softer rock by which it was 

 enclosed, appeared as if erected by the hand of man. 



Upon the western side of the river, opposite the moun- 

 tains of Baraguan, was a large playa, upon which was an 

 Indian encampment, to which we crossed. It consisted 

 of a dozen iimbrella-shaped huts, about four feet high, con- 

 structed from poles stuck in the sand in a circle some 

 eight feet in diameter, with the upper ends brought to- 

 gether, and the whole covered with a few palm-leaves, 

 scarcely sufficient to ward off the sun, and offering no pro- 

 tection against the rains : but, as there was nothing to get 

 wet, aside from iron pots and calabashes, with their own 

 naked persons, we imagined that a shower on this hot 

 shore could be considered no special inconvenience. . Un- 

 like the Guaicas and Guainarcs of the Upper Orinoco, who 

 are remarkable for their diminutive size, these Ottomac 

 Indians were large, tlicir skin of a brownish-red color, thciv 



