439 



mission of Padamo was given in 1785 to father 

 Valor, with an injunction, to " repair thither im- 

 mediately, the Indians being without a pastor 

 This was more than fifteen years after the vil- 

 lage of Padamo had ceased to exist, and the 

 Indians had fled al monte. 



From the 14th to the 21st of May we slept 

 constantly in the open air ; but I cannot indi- 

 cate the spots where we halted. These re- 

 gions are so wild, and so little frequented, that 

 with the exception of some rivers, the Indians 

 were ignorant of the name of all the objects 

 which I set by the compass. No observation 

 of a star helped me to fix the latitude in the 

 space of a degree. After having passed the 

 point* where the Itinivini separates itself from 

 the Cassiquiare, to take it's course to the west, 

 toward the granitic hills of Daripabo, we found 

 the marshy banks of the river ornamented with 

 bamboos. These arborescent gramina rise to 

 the height of twenty feet; their stem is con- 

 stantly arched toward the summit. It is a new 

 species of bambusa with very broad leaves. Mr e 

 Bonpland fortunately found one in flower; a 



* It is above Vasiva, nearly in 2° 30' of latitude j the 

 same branch of the Cassiquiare enters, by the name of the 

 Conorichite, into the Rio Negro, near Tomo. (See above, 

 p. 358.) More to the north come in succession the Canno 

 Guramuni, the Port of wild Cacao-trees, the Rio Maminari, 

 the lake Duractumuni, and the Rio Pamoni. 



