170 



hereafter, on the supposition only, that the 

 government will occupy itself seriously with the 

 commerce and agricultural industry of the Up- 

 per Oroonoko. In the present state of things, 

 in the neglect to which you seem to doom the 

 banks of that majestic river, canals would be 

 almost useless." 



We embarked at Puerto de Arriba, and pass- 

 ed the Raudal de Camejl with some difficulty. 

 This passage is reputed to be dangerous, when 

 the water is very high ; but we found the sur- 

 face of the river beyond the raudal as smooth as 

 glass. We passed the night in a rocky island 

 called Piedra Raton ; which is three quarters 

 of a league long, and displays that singular 

 aspect of rising vegetation, those clusters of 

 shrubs, scattered over a bare and rocky soil, of 

 which we have often spoken. I obtained seve- 

 ral observations of the stars during the night, 

 and found the latitude of this island to be 5° 4' 

 31", and it's longitude 70° 37'. The river gave 

 the images of the stars by reflexion ; although 

 we were in the middle of the Oroonoko, the 

 cloud of moschettoes was so thick, that I had 

 not the patience to level the artificial horizon. 



April the 22d. We departed an hour and 

 a half before sunrise. The morning was humid, 

 but delicious ; not a breath of wind was felt, 

 for south of Atures and Maypures a perpetual 

 calm prevails. On the banks of the Rio Negro 



