364 



although the temperature of the air was at 21°. 

 This custom of being awake, and even on foot 

 four or five hours before sunrise, is general 

 among the Indians of Guyana. When in the 

 entradas an attempt is made to surprise the na- 

 tives, the hours chosen are those of the first 

 sleep, from nine 'till midnight. 



We left the island of Dapa long before day- 

 break ; and notwithstanding the rapidity of the 

 current, and the zeal of our rowers, we only 

 arrived at the foot of San Carlos del Rio Negro 

 after twelve hours of navigation. We passed on 

 the left the mouth of the Cassiquiare, and, on 

 the right, the small island of Cumarai. This 

 fort is believed in the country to be placed on 

 the equatorial line* ; but, according to the ob- 

 servations which I made at the rocks of Culima- 

 cari, it is in 1° 54' 11". Every nation has a ten- 

 dency to enlarge the space occupied by it's pos- 

 sessions on the map, and to extend their limits. 

 The reduction of itinerary distances to distances 

 in a right line being neglected, the frontiers are 

 always most disfigured. The Portugueze, set- 



* Before my visit to the Rio Negro in 1801, and before 

 the first results of my observations were published by M. La- 

 lande, and baron von Zach, the best maps placed San Carlos 

 (according to la Cruz and Surville) in 0° '53 7 of north latitude. 

 Till that period no astronomical observations had been made 

 between San Carlos, Esmeralda, San Fernando de Ataba- 

 po, and Javita. 



