259 



were employed in dragging it by land, placing 

 branches of trees to serve as rollers. A small 

 boat passes in a day, or a day and half, from the 

 waters of the Tuamini to those oiCanno Pimichin, 

 which flow into the Rio Negro. Our canoe being 

 very large, and having to pass the cataracts a 

 second time, it was necessary to avoid with par- 

 ticular care any friction on the bottom. In con- 

 sequence the passage lasted more than four 

 days. It is only since 1795 that a road has been 

 traced through the forest. The Indians of Ja- 

 vita performed the half of this labour ; the other 

 half was the task of the Indians of Maroa, Da- 

 vipe, and San Carlos. This road, measured by 

 means of a cord of a hundred varas, was found 

 by father Eugenio Cereso to be seventeen thou- 

 sand one hundred and eighty varas* long. By 

 substituting a canal for this portage, as I pro- 

 posed to the ministry of King Charles the 

 Fourth, the communication between the Rio 

 Negro and Angostura between the Spanish 

 Oroonoko and the Portugueze possessions on the 

 Amazon, would be singularly facilitated. Boats 

 coming from San Carlos would no longer pro- 

 ceed by the Cassiquiare, which is full of wind- 

 ings, and dreaded for the strength of it's current ; 

 they would no longer go down the Oroonoko 



• According to Antilla, 1 vara 0' 83 of a metre, 

 t See page* 168, and 198 of the present volume, 

 s 2 



