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banks of the Vichada by Jesuits who came from 

 the missions of Casanare. Fugitive Indians of 

 Santa Rosalia de Cabapuna, a village situate on 

 the banks of the Meta, have arrived even re- 

 cently, by the Rio Vichada, at the cataract of 

 Maypures; which sufficiently proves, that the 

 sources of this river are not very distant from 

 the Meta. Father Gumilla has preserved the 

 names of several German and Spanish Jesuits, 

 who in 1734 fell victims to their zeal for reli- 

 gion by the hands of the Caribs, on the now 

 desert banks of the Vichada. 



Having passed the Canno Pirajavi on the 

 east, and then a small river on the west, which 

 issues, as the Indians say, from a lake called 

 Nao, we rested at night on the shore of the 

 Oroonoko, at the mouth of the Zama, a very 

 considerable river, as unknown as the Vichada. 

 Notwithstanding the black waters of the Zama, 

 we suffered greatly from insects. The night 

 was beautiful, without a breath of wind in the 

 lower regions of the atmosphere, but towards 

 two in the morning we saw thick clouds 

 crossing the zenith rapidly from east to west. 

 When declining toward the horizon, they tra- 

 versed the great nebulae of Sagittarius and the 

 Ship, they appeared of a dark blue. The light 

 of the nebulae is never more splendid, than 

 when they are in part covered by sweeping 

 clouds. We observe the same phenomenon in 



