CATARACTS OP THE ORINOCO. 217 



which each tree annually ripens three. This fine tree might 

 be called the peach palm. The fleshy fruits are from the 

 luxuriance of vegetation most often devoid of seeds, and 

 oifer to the natives a nutritious farinaceous food which, like 

 plantains and potatoes, can be prepared in a variety of ways. 



Hitherto, or as far as the mouth of the Guaviare, the 

 Orinoco flows along the southern declivity of the Sierra 

 de Parime; and from its southern bank the vast forest- 

 covered plain of the Amazons River stretches far beyond 

 the equator, even to the 15th degree of south latitude. 

 When the Orinoco turns suddenly to the north near San 

 Fernando de Atabapo, it breaks through a part of the moun- 

 tain chain along the base of which it had previously flowed ; 

 and this is the site of the great waterfalls of Atures and May- 

 pures. The river bed is here everywhere hemmed in by 

 colossal masses of rock, and divided as it were into separate 

 reservoirs by natural dikes. 



In front of the entrance of the Meta there stands in the 

 middle of a mighty whirlpool an isolated cliff, to which the 

 natives have given the very appropriate name of the " rock 

 of patience ;" because when the waters are low it sometimes 

 costs those who are ascending the river two days to pass it. 

 Here the Orinoco, eating deep into the land, forms pictu- 

 resque rocky bays. Opposite to the Indian mission of Cari- 

 chana the traveller is surprised by the singular prospect which 

 presents itself to his view. His eye is involuntarily riveted 

 on an abrupt granitic rock, el Mogote de Cocuyza, a cube 

 with vertically precipitous sides, above 200 feet high and 

 bearing on its upper surface a forest of trees of rich and varied 



