PROGRESS DOWN THE RIVER. 237 



but his efforts were fruitless. The weather was very CHAP. Xix. 



stormy, and tlie summit of Duida was enveloped in <, 



clouds ; but the thunders which rolled there did not wentUer. 

 disturb the plains. Nor did they, generally speaking, 

 observe in the valley of the Orinoco those violent 

 electric explosions which almost every night, during the 

 rainy season, alarm the traveller along the Rio Magda- 

 lena. Alter four hours' navigation in descending the 

 stream, they arrived at the bifurcation, and reposed on 

 the same beach of the Casiquiare, where a few days 

 before their dog had been carried oflf by the jaguars. 

 The cries of these animals were again heard through the 

 whole night. The black tiger also occurs in these 

 districts. It is celebrated for its strength and ferocity, 

 and appears to be larger than the other, of which, how- 

 ever, it is probably a variety. 



Leaving their resting-place before sunrise, and sailing passape 



with the current, they passed the mouths of the Cunu- ''o^^'" ^^^ 



. •^ ^ river, 



cunumo, Guanami, and Puruname. The country was 



entirely desert, although rude figures representing the 



sun, the moon, and different animals, are to be seen on 



the granite rocks ; attesting the former existence of a 



people more civilized than any that they had seen. 



On the 27th May they reached the mission of San g,^„ j.gj._ 

 Fernando de Atabapo, where they had lodged a month "undo de 

 before on their ascent toward the Rio Negro. The '' '^^'^ 

 president had allowed himself to become very uneasy 

 respecting the object of then- journey ; and requested 

 Humboldt to leave a writing in his hands, bearing testi- 

 mony to the good order that prevailed in the Christian 

 settlements on the Orinoco, and the mildness with 

 which the natives were treated. This, however, he 

 declined. From this point they retraced their former 

 route, and passed the cataracts. On the 31st they 

 landed before sunset at the Puerto de la Expedicion, for 

 the purpose of visiting the cave of Ataruipe, which is the 

 sepulchre of an extinct nation. 



" We climbed," says Humboldt, " with ditticulty and 

 not without danger, a steep rock of granite, entirely 



