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before the flowers appear. Thus too the ma- 

 guey *, cultivated in New Spain, furnishes a 

 saccharine liquor, the wine (pulque) of the 

 Mexicans, only at the period when the plant 

 pushes out it's long stem. By interrupting the 

 blossoming*, nature is obliged to carry elsewhere 

 the saccharine or amylaceous matter, which 

 would have accumulated in the flowers of the 

 maguey and in the fruit of the mauritia. Some 

 families of Guaraons, associated with the Chay- 

 mas, live far from their native land, in the 

 Missions of the plains or Llanos of Cumana : 

 as for instance, at Santa-Rosa de Ocopi. Five 

 or six hundred of them voluntarily quitted their 

 marshes, a few years ago, and formed on the 

 northern and southern banks of the Oroonoko, 

 at twenty-five leagues distance from Cape Ba- 

 rima, two pretty considerable villages, under 

 the names of Zacupana and Imataca. When I 

 made my journey in Caripe, these Indians were 

 still without missionaries, and lived in complete 

 independence. The excellent qualities of these 

 natives as seamen, their great number, their 

 perfect knowledge of the mouths of the Oroono- 

 ko, and of the labyrinth of branches commu- 

 nicating with each other, give the Guaraons a 

 certain political importance. They favour that 

 clandestine commerce of which the Island of 



* Agave Americana, the aloe of our gardens 



