CHAPTER XII. 



ATABAPO AXD UPPEE RIO NEGRO. 



Village of San Fernando. — Ship-building. — Voyage up the Atabapo. — Its 

 Peculiar Features. — Arrival at Javita. — Portage to Pimichin. — Down 

 tlie Pimicliiu. — Eio Negro. — Village of Moi'oa. — Scarcity of Food. — 

 Eepairing a Yantee Clock. — Arrangements for Voyage to the Ama- 

 zons. — Leave Moroa. — San Carlos. — ^Enter Brazil. 



Sa^s" Fernando de Atabapo is one of the most de- 

 liglitfully-situated towns we met with in the interior. It 

 occupies a central position upon the great water-shed of 

 the Orinoco and Amazonian valleys, and lies at the junc- 

 tion of three considerable rivers — the Guaviarc, Atahapo, 

 and Orinoco. Tlie town seems scarcely to have felt the 

 influence of Spanish and Portuguese civilization, marching 

 up the Orinoco and Amazons. It contains a population 

 of four or five hundred, chiefly Indians. The mandioca, 

 sugar-cane, cacao, and coffee, are cultivated in sufficient 

 quantities to meet the wants of the people. Cocoa-nut 

 palms, which have accompanied man in his migrations in 

 all lands, thrive here, notwithstanding their distant re- 

 moval from the coast. Cotton grows spontaneously, as it 

 does throughout the mountainous regions of Guiana. This 

 plant is here a perennial, and attains a height of six to 

 eight feet. Pine-apples grow wild in the greatest abun- 

 dance, and possess a richness of flavor often deficient in 

 cultivated varieties. Broken savannas roll out from the 



