4 



acquired a knowledge of distant things. In 

 the infant state of society, the exchange of ideas 

 precedes to a certain point the exchange of pro- 

 ductions. 



The two great cataracts of the Oroonoko, of 

 which the celebrity is so far spread and so an- 

 cient, are formed by the passage of the river 

 across the mountains of Parima*. They are 

 called by the natives Mapara and Quittuna ; 

 but the missionaries have substituted for these 

 names those of Atures and Maypures, after the 

 names of the first tribes, which they assembled 

 together in the nearest villages. On the coast 

 of Caraccas, the two Great Cataracts are denot- 

 ed by the simple appellation of the two Rauda- 

 les*\-, or rapids ; a denomination which implies, 

 that the other falls of water, even the rapids of 

 Camiseta and of Carichana, are not considered 

 as worthy of attention, when compared with the 

 cataracts of Atures and Maypures. 



These last, situate between five and six de- 

 grees of north latitude, and a hundred leagues 

 west of the Cordilleras of New Grenada %, in the 

 meridian of Porto Cabello, are only twelve lea- 

 gues distant from each other. It is surprising, 



* See chap, xvii, vol. iv, p. 804. 

 t From the Spanish word raudo, rushing, rapidus. 

 % "West of the Paramo of Zoraca, near Tunja, a town of 

 JSTow Granada. 



