262 



siderable; but the small rivers at this period 

 have so little water, that every minute there is 

 a risk of taking the ground. The missionaries 

 prefer making this voyage in the month of ApriL 

 the time of the harvest of turtle's eggs, which 

 animates a part of the banks of the Oroonoko. 

 The moschettoes are then less dreaded, the river 

 is half full, the breeze is still available, and the 

 Great Cataracts may be passed with facility. 



The barometric heights * observed at the mis- 

 sion of Javita, and at the landing place at Pimi- 

 chin, prove, that the general slope of the canal 

 would be thirty or forty toises from north to 

 south. Accordingly the great number of small 

 streams, across which the boats must be con- 

 veyed in the portage, all flow toward the Pimi- 

 chin. We saw with astonishment among these 

 rivulets of black water there are some, the water 

 of which, seen by reflected light, were as white 

 as those of the Oroonoko. What can be the 

 cause of this difference ? All these springs rise 

 in the same savannahs, in the same marshes of 

 the forest. The measurement made by father 

 Cereso not being in a right line, and it's direc- 

 tion inclining too much toward the east, the 



* At Javita, bar. corrected May the 4th, at 9^ in the even- 

 ing, 3255lines ; at 11** 826'1 lines. Therm, from 18 Q to 19° 

 of Reaumur. At the landing place at Pimichin, May the 

 6th, at 11 in the morning, 328*3 lines ; th. 20 3° of Reau- 

 mur. 



