361 



of the Essequebo and the Carony, by the Rupu- 

 nuri* and the Paraguamuzi-f~ on one side, di- 

 rectly south, toward the Rio Branco ; and on 

 the other, to the south-west, following the por- 

 tages between the Rio Paraguay, the Caura, and 

 the Ventuario ||. The Caribbees, when arrived 

 amid the numerous tribes of the Upper Oroo- 

 noko, divided themselves into several bands, 

 in order to reach, by the Cassiquiare, the Caba- 

 bury, the Itinivini, and the Atabapo, on a great 

 many points at once, the banks of the Guainia 

 or Rio Negro, and carry on the slave-trade with 

 the Portugueze. Thus the unhappy natives, be- 

 fore they came into immediate contact with the 

 Europeans, suffered from their neighbourhood. 



* There is a portage between the Rio Rupunuri, or Ru- 

 punuvini, a tributary stream of the Essequebo, and the Canno 

 Pirara, a tributary stream of the Rio Parime, or Rio Branco. 



f To go from the Paraguamuzi, which flows into the Rio 

 Carony, to the Canno <Curaricara (Uraricuera ?), a tributary 

 stream of the Rio Parime, you pass the chain of the moun- 

 tains of Quimiropaca, which, stretching from west to east, 

 unites the mountains of the Upper Oroonoko with those of 

 Dutch and French Guayana. 



X You pass from the Caura to the Carony by a portage 

 between the Chavarro, which flows into the Caura, and the 

 Paruspo, which falls into the Paragua, one of the tributary 

 streams of the Carony. 



|| In going from the Caura to the Ventuario, you cross the 

 savannahs that separate the sources of the Erevato, a tribu- 

 tary stream of the Caura, from those of the Manapiare, 

 which flows into the Ventuario. 



