BIFURCATION OF THE ORINOCO. avs 
they would scarcely burn. On shore the pothoses, 
arums, and lianas, furnished so thick a covering, 
that although it rained violently they were com- 
pletely sheltered. At their last resting-place on the 
Casiquiare, the jaguars carried off their great dog 
while they slept. 
On the 21st May they again entered the channel 
of the Orinoco, three leagues below the mission of 
Esmeralda. Here the scenery wore a very imposing 
aspect, lofty granitic mountains rising on the north- 
ern bank. The celebrated bifurcation of the river 
takes place in this manner: The stream, issuing 
from among the mountains, reaches the opening of a 
valley or depression of the ground which terminates 
at the Rio Negro, and divides into two branches. 
The principal branch continues its course toward 
the west-north-west, turning round the group of the 
mountains of Parime, while the other flows off south- 
ward and joins the Rio Negro. By this latter 
branch our travellers ascended from the river just 
mentioned, and again entered the Orinoco, four 
weeks after they had left it near the mouth of the 
Guaviare. They had still a voyage of 863 miles 
to perform before reaching Angostura. 
