214 CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 



the natives have thrown across it, near the waterfall of 

 the Guaharibes, a suspension bridge formed of the twining 

 stems of climbing plants. The Guaicas, a race of compara- 

 tively light complexion but of small stature, armed with 

 poisoned arrows, forbid any farther advance towards the east. 



All, therefore, that has been put forward respecting the 

 lake origin of the Orinoco is fabulous ( 9 ) . "We seek in vain 

 in nature for the Laguna of El Dorado, which is still marked 

 in Arrowsmith's maps as an inland sea 80 geographical 

 miles in length. Has the little reedy lake of Amucu, 

 from which the Pirara (a branch of the Mahu) flows, given 

 rise to this fable ? But the swamp in which the lake of 

 Amucu is situated is four degrees of longitude to the east of 

 the district in which the sources of the Orinoco must be 

 sought. 



It was an ancient custom of dogmatising geographers to 

 make all the larger rivers of the world originate in con- 

 siderable lakes. To the lake forming the supposed origin 

 of the Orinoco was transferred the site of the island of 

 Pumacena, a rock of micaceous slate, the glitter of which, 

 in the 16th century, played, in the fable of El Dorado, 

 a memorable, and to deceived humanity often a fatal 

 part. It is the belief of the natives, that the Magellanic 

 clouds of the southern hemisphere, and even the fine nebulae 

 in the constellation of the ship Argo, are a reflection 

 of the metallic brilliancy of the silver mountains of the 

 Parime. 



The Orinoco is one of those rivers which, after many 

 windings, seem to return back towards the region in which 



