18 CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 



foliage. Resembling a Cyclopean monument in its simple 

 grandeur, this mass of rock rises high above the tops of the 

 surrounding palms, its sharp outlines appearing in strong 

 relief against the deep azure of the sky, and its summit up- 

 lifting high in air a forest above the forest. 



In descending the Orinoco from this point, still within -the 

 range of the Carichana mission, we arrive at the part of the 

 river where the stream has forced for itself a way through 

 the narrow pass of Baraguan. Here we recognise every- 

 where traces of chaotic devastation. To the north, (towards 

 Uruana and Encaramada), masses of granite of extraordina- 

 rily notched and serrated outline and grotesque aspect shine 

 with dazzling whiteness high above the thickets from amidst 

 which they rise. 



It is in this region, after receiving the Apure, that the 

 Orinoco leaves the granitic chain of mountains and flows 

 eastward to the Atlantic, dividing the impenetrable forests of 

 Guiana from the grassy plains on which ',he vault of heaven 

 seems everywhere to rest as on the horizon of the ocean. 

 Thus the elevated cluster of the Parime mountains, which 

 occupies the entire space between the sources of the Jao and 

 the Caura, is surrounded on three sides, to the South, to the 

 West, and to the North, by the Orinoco. Below Carichana 

 the course of the river is uninterrupted by rocks or rapids to 

 its mouth, excepting at the whirlpool of the Boca del Infierno 

 (Hell's mouth) near Muitaco, where, however, the rocks which 

 occasion the rapid do not extend across the entire bed of 

 the river as at Atures and Maypures. In these lower parts of 

 the river in the vicinity of the sea, the only danger feared by 



