35 



India Islands, uniting with them the fugitive 

 negroes of Essequibo, as had been done at Rio 

 Caura. It is probable, that this scheme would 

 have produced happy effects. It reminds us on 

 a small scale of the establishment at Sierra 

 Leone ; and, in affording a prospect of meliorat- 

 ing the condition of the blacks, it seemed to lead 

 back Christianity to it's primitive purpose, that 

 of favouring the happiness and liberty of the 

 lowest classes of the people. A mistaken pity 

 destroyed this project. The governor replied to 

 the monks, " that, since they could not assure 

 the life of the Negroes, any more than that of 

 the Indians, it was not just to compel the former 

 to inhabit the villages of the cataracts." The 

 preservation of these missions now depends in 

 some measure on two families of Guahiboes and 

 of Macoes, who alone show some traces of civil- 

 ization, and love a sedentary life. Should these 

 families become extinct, the other Indians, 

 already impatient under the system of the mis- 

 sions, will abandon father Zea ; and, at a spot 

 which may be regarded as the key of the Oroo- 

 noko, travellers will find no succour, and no 

 pilot, who can pass the boats through the rapids. 

 The communication between the little fort of the 

 Rio Negro and the capital of Angostura, if not 

 interrupted, at least will be rendered very diffi- 

 cult. It requires an intimate knowledge of the 

 local situation, to venture amid the labyrinth of 



d 2 



