230 



ASCENT OP THE CASIQUIARE. 



Varied 

 habits. 



CUAP.xviiL order to fish, and tlie little monkeys went in search of 

 Father Zea to oljtain shelter in his large sleeves. At 

 night the leathern case containing tlieir provisions was 

 placed in the centre ; then the instruments and cages ; 

 around which were suspended the hammocks of the 

 travellers ; and beyond them the Indians slept, protected 

 by a circle of fires to keep off the jaguars. 

 LoTiKitiide On the 11th they left the mission of San Francisco 

 andlaUtudc. golano at a late hour to make a short day's journey, for 

 the vapours had begun to break up, and tlie travellers 

 were unwilling to go far from the mouth of the Casi- 

 quiare without determining the longitude and latitude. 

 This they had an opportunity of doing at night in the 

 neighbourhood of a solitary granite rock, the Piedra di 

 Culimacari, which they found to be in lat. 2° 0' 42" 

 north, and long. 67° 13' 20" west. The determination 

 was of great importance in a geographical and political 

 point of view, for the greatest errors existed in maps, and 

 the equator had been considered as the boundary between 

 the Spanish and Portuguese possessions. 



Leaving the Rock of Culimacari at half after one in 

 the morning, they proceeded against the current, which 

 Avas very rapid. The waters of the Casiquiare are white, 

 and the mosquitoes again commenced their invasions, 

 becoming more numerous as the boat receded from the 

 black stream of the Rio Negro. In the whole course of 

 the Casiquiare thoy did not find in the Christian settle- 

 ments a population of 200 individuals, and the free 

 Indians have retired from its banks. During a great 

 part of tlie year tlie natives subsist on ants. At the 

 mission of Mandavaca, which they reached in the evening, 

 they found a monk who had spent twenty years in the 

 country, and whose legs were so spotted by the stings of 

 insects that the whiteness of the skin could scarcely be 

 perceived. He complained of his solitude, and the sad 

 necessity which often compelled him to leave the most 

 atrocious crimes unpunished. An indigenous alcayde, 

 or overseer, liad a few years before eaten one of his 

 wives, after fattening her bv a:ood feeding. " You 



Rnck of 

 Culliniuuiri. 



Soli tan- 

 monk. 



