GUANAGUANA AND SAN ANTONIO. 97 
in which are situated the missions of San Antonio 
and Guanaguana. Stopping at the former only to 
open the barometer and take a few altitudes of the 
sun, they forded the rivers Colorado and Guara- 
piche, and proceeding along a level and narrow road 
covered with thick mud, amid torrents of rain, reach- 
ed in the evening the latter of these stations, where 
they were cordially received by the missionary. 
This village had existed only thirty years on the 
spot which it then occupied, having been transferred 
from a place more to the south. Humboldt re- 
marks, that the facility with which the Indians re- 
move their dwellings is astonishing, there being 
several small towns in South America which have 
thrice changed their situation in less than half a 
century. These compulsory migrations are not un- 
frequently caused by the caprice of an ecclesiastic ; 
and as the houses are constructed of clay, reeds, 
and palm-leaves, a hamlet shifts its position like a 
camp. 
The mission of San Antonio had a small church 
with two towers, built of brick and ornamented 
with Doric columns, the wonder of the country ; but 
that of Guanaguana possessed as yet no place of wor- 
ship, although a spacious house had been built for 
the padre, the terraced roof of which was ornamented 
with numerous chimneys like turrets, and which, 
he informed the travellers, had been erected for no 
other purpose than to remind him of his native 
country. ‘The Indians cultivate cotton. The ma- 
chines by which they separate the wool from the seeds 
are of very simple construction, consisting of wooden 
cylinders of very small diameter, made to revolve 
by a treadle. Maize is the article on which they 
F 
