160 ATABAPO AND UPPER EIO NEGIJO. 



Until our arrival at San Fernando, ■\ve were undecided 

 as to wliicli of the two routes to the Rio Negro we should 

 take ; whether to ascend the Atabapo and Temi, and then 

 make the portage of three leagues to the caiio Pimichin, 

 or to ascend the Orinoco and make the passage of the Cas- 

 siqiiiare. The former was much shorter, with no serious 

 obstacles to overcome, and could, furthermore, be per- 

 formed, at this favorable season of low water, in twelve 

 or fifteen days less than would be required to make the 

 other, which necessitated a journey against the current of 

 the Orinoco of nearly fifty leagues through a wild, barren, 

 and uninhabited country. Reaching Esmeralda, near the 

 celebrated bifurcation of the Orinoco, the traveller descends 

 the Cassiquiare, traversing a forest-region infested with 

 insects, which, we were told, were more " ferocious " than 

 those of the Great Cataracts. After navigating that 

 stream sixty leagues, and passing the many rapids that 

 obstruct its course, he emerges upon the black waters of 

 the Rio Negro. After our severe experiences upon the 

 Orinoco, we had no inclination to endure the still greater 

 annoyances attending a voyage upon the Cassiquiare, and 

 therefore determined to ascend the Atabapo, 



We encountered no little difficulty in procuring a boat 

 and crew by which to continue our journey. Again we 

 seemed doomed to delay, if not destined to be turned 

 back. Could we but make Javita, we felt that our con- 

 nection with the Amazons was assured. Once more for- 

 tune favored us. Seiior Andres Level, a Spanish trader, 

 from Moroa, on the Rio Negro, arrived at San Fernando, 

 having come by the Cassiqiiiare, and for the sum of one 

 hundred and ten pesos agreed to take us to Barra, near 

 the confluence of the above-mentioned river with the 

 Amazons. Our boat, or lancha, as it was called, was 

 similar in construction to the buco by which we ascended 

 the Orinoco, but was a much more commodious craft. It 



