1G2 ATABAPO AND UPPER KIO KEGPvO. 



tliat his treasures were safe in the bottom of the river, we 

 did not delay to recover them, he intending to secure them 

 upon his next voyage that way. We might here remark, 

 en passant^ that our money, which was in coin, was often 

 left unguarded in our boat Avithout any apprehensions 

 being entertained for its safety. Honesty is a virtue char- 

 acteristic of the Indian tribes with which we were thrown 

 in contact. We have seen them, when actually suffering 

 from hunger, decline to molest food discovered in huts 

 temporarily vacated. These natives, with that confidence 

 in their race xuilcnown among civilized communities, leave 

 their homes unprotected, and go on distant excursions, 

 with the assurance that upon their return nothing will be 

 found missing ; nor are they ever disappointed, unless some 

 straggling bianco chances to wander that way during their 

 absence. 



At 10 A. M. we reached Camachina, an Indian pueblo 

 of some thirty houses, upon the left bank of the stream. 

 The inhabitants, like most of those in the towns on the 

 Atabapo, were quite well dressed ; their general appear- 

 ance indicated some degree of intelligence ; and their 

 dwellings, which were comfortable abodes, presented some 

 regularity and neatness in their arrangement, as compared 

 with the wretched huts of the tribes on the banks of the 

 Orinoco. We bartered with them for a few chipiries, or 

 small turtles, and plantains — a cambric needle or a fish- 

 hook being an equivalent for a turtle or a bunch of ba- 

 nanas. Two more Indians were here obtained, who accom- 

 panied us to assist in passing the rapids of the river. In 

 the afternoon we arrived at another small Indian settlement 

 upon the same bank, and late in the evening reached 

 Piedra del Tigre, a granitic rock upon the eastern shore, 

 where we spent the night. 



The inundation of the banks of the Atabapo presents 

 no little inconvenience to the traveller ; for often, when 



