SAN MIGUEL. 171 



made sailing-craft of the country, twenty-five feet in 

 length and seven in width. A palm-thatched roof, cover- 

 ing ten feet of the stern, constituted our cabin. In these 

 contracted quarters was stowed a quantity of hammocks, 

 which Senor Level was sending to Barra, our baggage, and 

 collections to which we had added largely of Indian curi- 

 osities at Moroa. Beneath the floor of our carroza our 

 turtles were kept, when- we were so fortunate as to have 

 any. In front of the carroza were placed our baskets of 

 manoca, which, as we have said, constitutued our sole sup- 

 ply of provisions. Our crew consisted of five Indians ; 

 four of whom were paddlers, and the other, a gray-headed 

 patriarch, was our patron. One of the number we had 

 secured with special reference to his knowledge of the 

 river, and familiarity with the peculiar languages of the 

 various Indian tribes which inhabit its banks. None of 

 the others had ever been to any considerable distance 

 down the Rio Negro. 



It was sunset on the 13th of December when we left 

 Moroa, descending rapidly with the swift current of the 

 dark stream, one-quarter of a mile in breadth. A few 

 miles down we tarried a short time at Toma, a village of 

 some three hundred inhabitants, at the mouth of a small 

 stream bearing the same name ; and still farther down, 

 upon the opposite bank, we came to San Miguel, where 

 we spent the night. This town is the largest we had seen 

 since leaving San Fernando de Apure, and is the most 

 considerable of any upon the Rio Negro before reaching 

 Barra. Like the other towns of the Upper Rio Negro, 

 its inhabitants are engaged in ship-building ; the vessels, 

 such as we have before alluded to, being taken down to 

 the Amazonian market, or, by the Cassiquiare, to Angos- 

 tura and the northern coast. 



At two o'clock in the morning, after five hours of rest, 

 we reembarked. The river, although rapidly falling, was 



