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the large vases of baked earth, in which the 

 bones of separate families appeared to be collect- 

 ed ; and of many other curious objects, which 

 we proposed to examine at our return from the 

 Rio Negro. " You will scarcely believe," said 

 the missionary, i( that these skeletons, these 

 painted vases, things which we believed were 

 unknown to the rest of the world, have brought 

 trouble upon me and my neighbour, the mis- 

 sionary of Carichana. You have seen the misery 

 in which I live in the raudales. Devoured by 

 moschettoes, and often in want of plantains 

 and cassava, I have found envious people even 

 in this country ! A white man who inhabits the 

 pastures between the Meta and the Apure, de- 

 nounced me recently in the Audiencia of Ca- 

 raccas, as concealing a treasure I had discovered 

 jointly with the missionary of Carichana amid 

 the tombs of the Indians. It is asserted, that 

 the jesuits of Santa Fe de Bogota were apprised 

 beforehand of the destruction of their company ; 

 and that, in order to save the riches they pos- 

 sessed in money and precious vases, they sent 

 them either by the Rio Meta, or the Vichada, 

 to the Oroonoko, with orders to have them hid- 

 den in the islets amid the raudales. These are 

 the treasures, which I am supposed to have ap- 

 propriated unknown to my superiors. The 

 Audiencia of Caraccas brought a complaint be- 

 fore the governor of Guayana, and we were or- 



