555 



the Oroonoko, Maravaca, or Sierra Maraguaca, 

 is distinguished by it's elevation, between the 

 Rio Caurimoni and the Pa dam o ; and on the 

 left bank of the Oroonoko rise the mountains of 

 Guanaja and Yumariquin, between the Rios 

 Amaguaca and Gehette. It is almost superflu- 

 ous to repeat^ that the line which passes through 

 these lofty summits (like those of the Pyrenees, 

 the Carpathian mountains, and so many other 

 chains of the ancient continent) is very distinct 

 from the line, that marks the partition of the 

 waters. This latter line, which separates the 



375, 451. I never heard the Indians of the Upper Oroo- 

 noko name the three mountains, Jujamari, Javi, and Siama- 

 cu, which the missionary Gili (voJ. i, p. 39, 133, 156; vol. 

 ii, p. 28) indicates as being very lofty, giving at the same 

 time the most confused notions of their geographical situa- 

 tion. Jujamari appears to be north-east of the Cerro de 

 Sipapo, which I have described above ; Javi and Siamacu 

 (Chamacu, Samacu), of the existence of which Caulin also 

 was ignorant, are (I believe) between the sources of the 

 Ventuari and the Cuchivero. The natives described Sia- 

 macu to father Gili as a very cold place. Now, on a moun- 

 tain eight hundred toises high, the centigrade thermometer, ir» 

 that zone, may fall to ten degrees, which causes a feeling of 

 cold very sensible to people habituated to a temperature of 

 twenty-eight or thirty degrees. At Caraccas (height four 

 hundred and fifty-four toises), I saw the thermometer at 

 12* 5'. The name of Siamacu is perhaps derived from the 

 rounded form jof the mountain. This name indicates in 

 Tamanac a vase of hemispheric form, used to keep the ehiza 

 in. 



