SAN FEENANDO DE ATABAPO. 



121 



was one of the most flourisliing places in the republic ; but it lost half its wealth 

 and population in the civil war, which long ravaged this region. The seat of 

 e-overnment for the state of Guarico was also removed from Calabozo to the far 

 inferior town of Ortiz, which, with the neighbouring Parapam, commands the 

 northern approach to the llanos at the foot of Mount Galera. 



San Fernando occupies a position of vital importance on the right bank of the 

 Apure, opposite the mouth of the Rio Portuguesa. Here it commands the con- 

 verging point of four navigable streams, on which steamers ply in one direction 

 to the port of Nutrias, beyond Ciudad Bolivar, in another up the Portuguesa to 

 El Baul. But the whole region is so sparsely peopled that the trade of San 

 Fernando still remains undeveloped, although it has taken the place of Acharjuas 



Fig. 42. — Ramifications of the Atabapo. 

 Scale 1 : 1,400,000. 



30 Miles. 



as a district capital. Achaguas, a former Indian mission, lies to the south-west, 

 in the labyrinth of channels and backwaters separating the Apure from the 

 Arauca. 



San Fernando de Atabapo — Bolivar. 



In the upper Orinoco valley, and on the divide between that river and the 

 Rio Negro, there are no centres of population beyond such wretched hamlets as 

 Esmeralda, Yarita, and Pimichin, frequently mentioned in books of travel, because 

 of their position at important confluences or portages'. 



At the confluence of the Atabapo and Orinoco, 776 feet above sea-level, 

 San Fernando de Atabapo, founded by Solano in 1757, occupies even a more 

 important position than San Fernando de Apure. From this point radiate as 

 many as six navigable highways, southwards by the Atabapo to Brazil, east- 



