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which no doubt owe their black tint to the 

 oxyds of iron and manganese, seem to prove the 

 justness of this conjecture. They are found on 

 all the stones, far from the mission, and indicate 

 the ancient abode of the waters. In going up 

 the river, the merchandize is discharged at the 

 confluence of the Rio Toparo and the Oroonoko. 

 The boats are entrusted to the natives, who have 

 so perfect a knowledge of the raudal, that they 

 have a particular name for every step. They 

 conduct the boats as far as the mouth of the 

 Cameji, where the danger is considered as past. 



The following is the state of the cataract of 

 Quittuna or Maypures, at the two periods when 

 I examined it, in going down and up the river. 

 It is formed, like that of Mapara or Atures, by 

 an archipelago of islands, which to the length of 

 three thousand toises fill the bed of the river, 

 and by rocky dikes, which join the islands to- 

 gether. The most famous of these dikes, or 

 natural dams, are Purimarimi> Manimi, and the 

 Leap of the Sardina*. I name them in the 

 order, in which I saw them in succession from 

 south to north. The last of these three stages 

 is near nine feet high, and forms by it's breadth 

 a magnificent cascade I must here repeat 

 however, that the turbulent shock of the preci- 

 pitated and broken waters does not so much 

 depend on the absolute height of each step, 



* Salto de la Sardina. 



