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to her home by land. Far from those children 

 who had accompanied their father on the day 

 in which she had been carried off, this unhappy 

 woman showed signs of the deepest despair. 

 She attempted to take back to her family the 

 children, who had been snatched away by the 

 missionary ; and fled with them repeatedly from 

 the village of San Fernando, but the Indians 

 never failed to seize her anew ; and the mis- 

 sionary, after having caused her to be merci- 

 lessly beaten, took the cruel resolution of sepa- 

 rating the mother from the two children, who 

 had been carried off with her. She was con- 

 veyed alone toward the missions of the Rio 

 Negro, going up the Atabapo. Slightly bound, 

 she was seated at the bow of the boat, ignorant 

 of the fate that awaited her ; but she judged by 

 the direction of the Sun, that she was removing 

 farther and farther from her hut and her native 

 country. She succeeded in breaking her bonds, 

 threw herself into the water, and swam to the 

 left bank of the Atabapo. The current carried 

 her to a shelf of rock, which bears her name to 

 this day. She landed, and took shelter in the 

 woods, but the president of the missions order- 

 ed the Indians to row to the shore, and follow 

 the traces of the Guahiba. In the evening she 

 was brought back. Stretched upon the rock 

 (la Piedra de la Madre) a cruel punishment was 

 inflicted on her with those straps of manatee 



