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CHAPTER XXIV. 



The Upper Oroonoko, from Esmeralda to the 

 confluence of the Guaviare.— Second passage 

 across the Cataracts of Atures and Maypures. 

 — Lower Oroonoko between the mouth of the 

 Rio Apure and Angostura, the capital of 

 Spanish Guyana. 



It remains for me to speak of the most solitary 

 and remote Christian settlement on the Upper 

 Oroonoko. Opposite the point where the bifur- 

 cation takes place, the granitic group of Duida 

 rises in an amphitheatre on the right bank of the 

 river. This mountain, which the missionaries 

 call a volcano, is nearly 8000 feet high. Perpendi- 

 cular on the south and the west, it has an aspect of 

 solemn greatness ; it's summit is bare and stony, 

 but, wherever it's less steep declivities are co- 

 vered with mould, vast forests appear suspend- 

 ed on it's flanks. At the foot of Duida is 

 placed the mission of Esmeralda, a little ham- 

 let with eighty inhabitants, surrounded by a 

 lovely plain, bathed by rills of black, but limpid 



