154 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



The Catanapo is a turbulent stream of clear, cold water 

 that dashes down from the near-by Cerro Sipapo. Not 

 far above its mouth is a good-sized village of Piaroas, who 

 come down occasionally with plantains, pawpaws, and other 

 fruits which they exchange for cloth and sugar at Atures. 

 When the Indians come down they apparently bring with 

 them numbers of freshly killed monkeys, the flesh of which 

 is greatly esteemed as food. We saw several heaps of the 

 charred bones near frequently used camping-sites, here 

 as well as at Zamuro. 



The clear water of the Catanapo abounds in fish which 

 may be seen twenty-five feet or more beneath the surface. 

 Some were fully two feet long and resembled giant black 

 bass; they refused to be tempted with meat bait, but rushed 

 greedily for bright-colored objects such as fruit and flowers; 

 they would take half an orange at a gulp. 



Atures, consisting of six or eight mud and grass huts, 

 owes its existence to the fact that the governor lives on 

 the Catanapo and all the residents are his employees. For- 

 merly the town was larger and there were thirty ox-carts 

 plying back and forth across the portage; but the governor 

 promptly selected the few he wanted and then discouraged 

 competition in such a manner that he was shortly left alone 

 in the field. To us he was most cordial, and immediately 

 placed his carts at our disposal; nor did he examine our 

 luggage, which was his self-imposed duty, and extract any- 

 thing that suited his fancy. 



The two miles from Atures to Salvajito, the port of em- 

 barkation above Atures Rapids, were covered in ox-carts 

 which lumbered slowly along over the uneven semiarid 

 coimtry. Salvajito was only a small cleared space in the 

 forest fringing the river. 



The next step of the journey was to traverse the forty 

 miles of river between Atures and the second great cataract 

 at Maipures. Only a small canoe was available, so leav- 

 ing my assistant and a number of the men to guard the 

 left-over luggage, I started with three paddlerg. "The canoe 



