SAN CAELOS. IV3 



principal use was to serA'e as sleeping-quai-tei-s at niglit 

 for cattle, the iirst we saw after leaving the Lower Ori- 

 noco. A few hairy sheep were wandering about, grazing 

 the scanty herbage of the town. These creatures, in the 

 warm regions of tlie tropics, when neglected, do not pro- 

 duce wool, as the climate renders such a thick covering 

 unnecessarJ^ Nature, too, in this land of perpetual sum- 

 mer, forgets to wrap the buds of plants in imbricated 

 scales and resinous coatings, the winter protection of 

 uorthern vegetation. How striking an adaptability do 

 we observe, of life animate and inanimate, to varying con- 

 ditions ! 



Neatness and taste, characteristics of other Indian 

 villages upon the Upper Kio Negro, are not virtues of 

 San Carlos — it is too near Portuguese civilization. The 

 place presents an uninviting aspect. The principal build- 

 ing, formerly occujiied by the padres, is now the head- 

 quarters of the comandante. Old flint-muskets, accou- 

 trements, and other paraphernalia of war, covered with 

 rust from the excessive humidity of these districts, filled 

 one of the apartments. The remains of an old fort were 

 opposite the town, upon the hig'i bluff of the western 

 bank. 



Having breakfasted with the Venezuelian official, we 

 departed from San Carlos, reaching, late in the afternoon 

 of the following day, Cocoi, a collection of three or four 

 houses, and the frontier post of Brazil. Here the formal- 

 ities of the custom-house, and the examining of passports, 

 require the stopping of boats in their passage. Opposite 

 the settlement, upon the east side of the river, is the Pie- 

 dra de Coco'i, an enormous, seemingly monolithic rock, 

 nearly one thousand feet in height, and half that in diam- 

 eter at its base, which marks the boundary between the 

 countries of Venezuela and Brazil. Upon one side it rose 

 almost perpendicularly, allowing no foothold for vegcta- 



