419 



right line from the mission of Mandavaca ; yet, 

 though we had no reason to complain of the 

 want of activity of our rowers, we were 14 hours 

 in making this short passage. 



Towards sunrise we passed the mouth of the 

 Rio Pacimoni, a river which has been mentioned 

 above* when speaking of the trade in sarsaparilla, 

 and which furnishes (by means of the Baria) so 

 remarkable an intertwining with the Cababuri. 

 The Pacimoni rises in a hilly ground, from the 

 confluence of three small rivers -fr, not marked 

 on the maps of the missionaries. It's waters 

 are black, but in a less degree than those of the 

 lake of Vasiva, which also communicates with 

 the Cassiquiare. Between those two tributary 

 streams coming from the east lies the mouth of 

 the Rio Idapa, the waters of which are white. 

 I shall not recur again to the difficulty of ex- 

 plaining this coexistence of rivers differently 

 coloured within a small space of ground ; and 

 shall only observe, that at the mouth of the Pa- 

 cimoni, and on the borders of the lake Vasiva, 

 we were again struck with the purity and ex- 

 treme transparency of the brown waters. An- 

 cient Arabian travellers have observed, that the 

 Alpine branch of the Nile, which joins the Bahar 

 el Abiad near Kalfaja, has green waters, which 



* Chapter xxiii, p. 376. 



t The Rios Guajavaea, Moreje, and Caclievaynery. 



2 e 2 



