185 



Europe in the Milky Way, in the aurora borealis 

 when it beams with a silvery light ; and at the 

 rising and setting of the sun, in the part of the 

 sky that is whitened* from causes, which philo- 

 sophers have not yet sufficiently explained. 



The vast space of ground, that lies between 

 the Meta, the Vichada, and the Guaviare, is 

 altogether unknown a league from the banks ; 

 but is believed to be inhabited by wild Indians 

 of the tribe of Chiricoas, who fortunately build 

 no boats. Formerly, when the Caribbees, and 

 their enemies the Cabres, traversed these re- 

 gions with their little fleets of rafts and ca- 

 noes, it would have been imprudent to have 

 passed the night near the mouth of a river run- 

 ning from the west. The little settlements of 

 the Europeans having now caused the indepen- 

 dent Indians to retire from the banks of the 

 Upper Oroonoko, the solitude of these regions 

 is such, that from Carichana to Javita, and 

 from Esmeralda to San Fernando de Atabapo, 

 during a course of one hundred and eighty 

 leagues, we did not meet one single boat. 



At the mouth of the Rio Zama we entered a 

 class of rivers, that merits great attention. The 

 Zama, the Mataveni, the Atabapo, the Tuamini, 

 the Temi, and the Guainia, are aguas negras, 

 that is, their waters, seen in a large body, ap- 



* The dawn : in French aube (alba), aibente ccetu. 



