

NARIVA. 339 



seven miles in length, and varies alternately from gently waving 

 to flat; the last three miles present a marshy plain. In this 

 section, mangroves were observed first, then in succession a dry 

 savannah, a tract of very rich land, of about one mile and a half 

 in breadth, covered with carats and wild plum-trees next, an 

 extensive savannah with clusters of the moriche-palm several 

 mangrove swamps, separated by dry savannahs and belts of dry 

 land a fine dry savannah, swamps and mangroves again, a 

 small savannah and finally, cabbage-trees and balatas bordering 

 on the Cocal. The track opened on the beach about midway 

 between the Nariva and the Guataro. 



All the water-courses met with during the survey had a 

 northerly or north-easterly direction. Four of them only bear 

 names, viz., the Cunape, about one mile and three-quarters, and 

 the Canque, five miles from Tamana ; the Carapa, one mile and 

 a quarter, westward of the first savannah, and the Caratal 

 immediately after the same. About six miles from the starting- 

 point, Messrs. Sorzano and d'Abadie met with a low wet tract, 

 and soon after, with an impassable swamp, which compelled them 

 to alter their line by nearly a mile to the southward. These 

 gentlemen observed, on their route, several cacao-trees : were 

 they accidentally planted, or are they the natural growth of the 

 country ? They fell in also with brush- wood, and a few lime- 

 trees ; such being evidence that, during slavery, the maroons or 

 fugitive slaves resorted to that spot, as to a fastness. 



In the following year, Mr. d'Abadie received further instruc- 

 tions to find a more direct road to the eastern coast, from 

 Savannah Grande to the Cocal, or to Mayaro. He started from 

 Monkey- town on the 19th of March, 1850, but completed his 

 survey only the following year, when he reached the Cocal one 

 mile northward of the mouth of the Guataro the whole length 

 of the track being twenty-six miles. He followed, as far as possi- 

 ble, the direction of ridges, in order to avoid the low swampy 

 grounds. For seventeen miles, all the water-courses had their 

 flow southward towards the Guataro. The principal were the 

 following : the Mairoa, three miles from the starting point ; this 

 river ought to be regarded as the true origin of the Guataro 

 not only because it is the first important stream which occurs on 

 the track, but its position corresponds better to the range of that 

 iver as marked down on Mallet's map than to that of his Moura. 



v*2 



