144 THE GEE AT CATARACTS OF THE OEINOCO. 



turesque islands, to the second rocky dike that spans the 

 river. Our baggage and supplies are to be carried from 

 here over a portage of a league to the upper limit of the 

 rapids, and the boat to be dragged up through the rocky 

 obstructions. 



The village of Atures, whither we now directed our 

 course, is two miles distant upon the plain, or one below 

 the upper terminus of the portage. The heat of the at- 

 mosphere, augmented by reflection from the stony soil 

 and granitic masses, was excessive in the extreme. Upon 

 arriving at the village, our Indian guide, who had carried 

 our papelon in a banana-leaf basket upon his head, pre- 

 sented a unique appearance. His head had perforated the 

 mass, which, under the influence of the hot sun, flowed in 

 streams down his naked person. The village consisted of 

 six inhabited mud huts, a little chapel, now used as a dor- 

 mitory for cows, and two abandoned, dilapidated hovels, 

 in one of which we established ourselves for the time we 

 might remain at the Atures. 



Here we saw, for the first time, that curious weapon, 

 the cerhatana, or blow-gun, in the use of which the natives 

 of the country are so skilful. It is made of a light, hol- 

 low reed, which grows in abundance in the forests of the 

 Upper Orinoco. As these are slender, two, and sometimes 

 throe, of difterent sizes are taken, so that they can be in- 

 serted one into the ether.* These are then wound with 

 smooth, black, shining bark, which gives it a tasteful ap- 

 pearance. At one end is fitted a mouth-piece of horn, and 

 a short distance from it a projection of the same for a 

 sight. The whole, when completed, is ten or twelve feet 

 long. The arrow, generally made from the leaf of a palm, 



*" The blow-gun of the Upper Amazonian Indians is constructed of 

 tv.'o pieces of hard wood, generally clionta-palm, each of which is hol- 

 lowed out, then the tv.'0 united, wound with bark, and coated with a 

 resinous substance. 



