248 CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 



ascended the river to the mouth of the Meta. Besides the 

 " Valley of Inundation/' above spoken of, we find other 

 large lakes or expanses of water between the Eio Xuinuru 

 and the Parime. One of these belongs to the Tacutu river, 

 and the other to the Uraricuera. Even at the foot of the 

 Pacaraima mountains the rivers are subject to great perio- 

 dical overflows; and the Lake of Amucu, which will be 

 spoken of more in the sequel, imparts a similar character to 

 the country at the commencement of the plains. The 

 Spanish missions of Santa B/osa and San Bautista de Cauda- 

 cacla or Cayacaya, founded in the years 1770 and 1773 by 

 the Governor Don Manuel Centurion, were destroyed before 

 the close of the century, and since that period no fresh 

 attempt has been made to penetrate from the basin of the 

 Caroni to the southern declivity of the Pacaraima mountains. 

 The territory east of the valley of the Eio Branco has of 

 late years been the subject of some successful examination. 

 Mr. Hillhouse navigated the Massaruni as far as the bay of 

 Caranang, from whence, he says, a path would have con- 

 ducted the traveller in two days to the sources of the Mas- 

 saruni, and in three days to streams flowing into the Eio 

 Branco. In regard to the windings of the great river 

 Massaruni, described by -Mr. Hillhouse, that gentleman 

 remarks, in a letter written to me from Demerara (January 

 1, 1831), that "the Massaruni beginning from its source 

 flows first to the West, then to the North for one degree 

 of latitude, afterwards almost 200 English miles to the 

 East, and finally North and N.N.E. to its junction with 

 the Essequibo." As Mr. Hillhouse was unable to reach 



