UPPER CATARACT. 251 
hood. The cataract, called by the Indians Quit- 
tuna, is formed by an archipelago of islands, filling 
the bed of the river to the length of 6395 yards, 
and by dikes of rock which occasionally join them 
together. The largest of these shelves or bars are at 
Purimarimi, Manimi, and the Salto de la Sardina, 
the last of which is about nine feet high. To ob- 
tain a full view of the falls, the travellers fre- 
quently ascended the eminence of Manimi, a gra- 
nitic ridge rising from the savannah, to the north 
of the chu: ch. “ When one attains the summit of 
the rock,” says Humboldt, “he suddenly sees a 
sheet of fo m a mile in extent. Enormous masses 
of rock, o an iron-blackness, emerge from its bo- 
som, som of a mammillar form, and grouped like 
basaltic} 1s; others resembling towers, castles, and 
ruins. eir dark colour contrasts with the silvery 
whitene of the foam. Every rock and islet is 
covered th tufts of stately trees. From the base 
of thes  srominences, as far as the eye can reach, 
there gs over the river a dense mist, through 
which =: tops of majestic palms are seen to pene- 
trate. _t every hour of the day this sheet of foam 
preser different aspect. Sometimes the moun- 
tain isies and palms project their long shadows over 
it; sometimes the rays of the setting sun are re-_ 
fracted in the humid cloud that covers the cataract, 
when coloured arches form, vanish, and re-appear 
by turns.” 
The mountain of Manimi forms the eastern limit 
of a plain, which presented the same appearance as 
that of Atures. Toward the west is a level space 
formerly occupied by the waters of the river, and 
exhibiting rocks similar to the islands of the cata- 
