CAICAEA— BOLIVAE. 



123 



Fig. 44. — Maipttees aotj Atuees Rapids. 

 Scale 1 : 600,000. 



path and portage remain free to botli nations till the year 1911. Of JJruana 

 ( Urbana), the old Otomak mission, nothing remains except a few stakes stuck 

 in the ground, and a half-charred cross. 



Caicara is favourably situated near the great bend of the Orinoco, below the 

 Apure and Apurito confluences. Here are exchanged manufactured goods for the 

 cordage made of Chiquichique palm fibre {attalea funifera) , stout hammocks of the 

 mauritia palm, and especially 

 the tonka or sarrapia bean 

 {dipteryx odorata), collected in 

 the Cuchivero valley, and used 

 in Europe for imparting an 

 aromatic fragrance to tobacco. 



For a distance of 250 miles 

 below Caicara, all the way to 

 Ciudad Bolivar, there are no 

 centres of population except a 

 few obscure hamlets on the 

 banks of the Orinoco. Bolivar 

 itself, present capital of Vene- 

 zuelan Guiana, has frequently 

 changed its position since its 

 foundation by the Jesuits on 

 the right bank at the mouth 

 of the Caroni in 1576. In 

 1591, Santo Tome, as it was 

 then called, was moved some 

 10 leagues lower down to a 

 spot on the right bank at 

 present indicated by the sta- 

 tion of Gaaunna Vieja (" Old 

 Guiana "). It had previously 

 been attacked by the Dutch, 

 and now it was reduced to 

 ashes by the English under Sir 

 Walter Ealeigh. In 1764 

 the administrative centre was 

 again shifted 94 miles higher 



up to the narrows, where the Orinoco is confined to a bed less than 800 

 yards wide. Hence its new name, Angostura (" The Narrows "), which gradually 

 replaced Santo Tome, and was itself changed to Ciudad Bolivar, or simply Bolivar, 

 in honour of the " Liberator." 



Bolivar extends west and east along the right bank between the negro quarter, 

 Perro Seco ("Dry Dog "), and the elegant suburb of Alameda, which, however, is 

 exposed to frequent inundations. In mid-stream rises the black-pointed Piedra 



12 Miles. 



