- 
y ake. +. a > =o _~ moet — — —— - =. - _ - 
= ae = - = ~——- — a me ~ — — > rR pos ‘ < 
> ee ~_— oe = a nanan = 
= —— 
952, MISSION OF MAYPURES. 
racts. These masses are also crowned with palms ; 
and one of them, called Keri, is celebrated in the 
— country for a white spot, which Humboldt supposed 
to be a large nodule of quartz. In an islet amidst 
the rush of waters there is a similar spot. The 
Indians view them with a mysterious interest, be- 
lieving they see in the former the image of the 
moon, and in the latter that of the sun. 
The inhabitants of the mission were Guahiboes 
and Macoes. In the time of the Jesuits the num- 
ber was six hundred, but it had gradually fallen to 
less than sixty. They are represented as gentle, 
temperate, and cleanly. They cultivate plantains 
and cassava, and, like most of the Indians of the 
Orinoco, prepare nourishing drinks from the fruits 
of palms and other plants. Some of them were oc- 
cupied in manufacturing a coarse pottery. Cattle, 
and especially goats, had at one time multiplied 
considerably at Maypures; but at the period of 
Humboldt’s visit none were to be seen in any mis- 
sion of the Orinoco. Tame macaws were seen round 
the huts, and flying in the fields like pigeons. Their 
plumage being of the most vivid tints of purple, 
blue, and yellow, these birds are a great ornament 
to the Indian farm-yards. 
Round the village there grows a majestic tree of 
the genus Unona, with straight branches rising in 
the form of a pyramid. ‘The infusion of the aro- 
matic fruit is a powerful febrifuge, and is used as 
such in preference to the astringent bark of the Czz- 
chona or Bonplandia trifoliata. 
The longitude of this place was found to be 68° 
17’ 9", the latitude 5° 13’ 57”, differing from the best 
maps then existing by half a degree of longitude and 
