UP THE guavia.ee. 159 



east seemed gradually to retire farther back. They passed 

 first the mouth of the Rio Mataveni, and afterwards an 

 islet of a very singular form ; a square granitic rock that 

 rose in the middle of the water. It was called by the mis- 

 sionaries the Little Castle. They passed the night on the 

 right bank opposite the mouth of the Rio Siucurivapu, 

 near a rock called Aricagua. During the night an in- 

 numerable quantity of bats issued from the clefts of the 

 rock, and hovered around their hammocks. 



On the 24th a violent rain obliged them early to re- 

 turn to their boat. They departed at two o'clock, after 

 having lost some books, which they could not find in the 

 darkness of the night, on the rock of Aricagua. The 

 river ran straight from south to north ; its banks were 

 low, and shaded on both sides by thick forests. They 

 passed the mouths of the Ucata, the Arapa, and the 

 Caranaveni. About four in the afternoon they landed 

 at the Indian plantations of the mission of San Fernando. 

 The good people wished to detain them among them, but 

 they continued to go up against the current, which ran 

 at the rate of five feet a second. They entered the mouth 

 of the Guaviare on a dark night, passed the point where 

 the Rio Atabapo joins the Guaviare, and arrived at the 

 mission after midnight. They were lodged as usual at 

 the Convent, that is, in the house of the missionary, who, 

 though much surprised at their unexpected visit, never- 

 theless received them with the greatest hospitality. 



During the night, they had left, almost unperceivecl, 

 the waters of the Orinoco ; and at sunrise found them- 

 selves as if transported to a new country, on the banks 

 of a river the name of which they had scarcely ever 

 heard pronounced, and which was to conduct them, by 



