445 



and Buenaguardia, like the pretended fort near 

 the lake of Vasiva, are only fictions of our 

 maps. We were surprised to see how much the 

 high steep banks of the Cassiquiare had been un- 

 dermiued on each side by the sudden risings of 

 the river. Trees rooted up formed as it were 

 natural rafts ; and, half buried in the mud, were 

 extremely dangerous for canoes. It is probable, 

 that, if the bark of the traveller were overset in 

 this uninhabited region, he would disappear, 

 without any indication of his misfortune marking 

 where, or how he had perished. It would 

 merely be known long after, that a boat, which 

 left Vasiva, had never been seen a hundred 

 leagues off, at the missions of Santa Barbara 

 and of San Fernando de Atabapo. We pass- 

 ed the night of the 20th of May, the last 

 of our voyage on the Cassiquiare, near the 

 point of the bifurcation of the Oronooko. We 

 had some hope of being able to make an astro- 

 nomical observation, as falling stars of remark- 

 able magnitude were visible through the va- 

 pours, that veiled the sky; whence we con- 

 cluded, that the stratum of vapors must be 

 very thin, since meteors of this kind have scarce- 

 ly ever been seen below a cloud. Those we 

 now beheld shot toward the north, and succeed- 

 ed each other at almost equal intervals. The 

 Indians, who little ennoble by their expressions 



