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hette, the navigation being very inconvenient^ 

 and the boats, on account of the want of water, 

 being often dragged along the shore. The tri- 

 butary streams in this distance are, on the south, 

 the Daracapo and the Amaguaca ; which skirt 

 on the west and east the mountains of Guanaya 

 and Yumariquin, where the bertholletias ( ches- 

 nuts of the Maragnon) are gathered. The Rio 

 Manaviche flows down from the mountains on 

 the north, the elevation of which diminishes pro- 

 gressively from the Cerro Maraguaca. As you 

 continue to go up the Oroonoko, the whirlpools 

 and little rapids (chorros y remolinos) become 

 more and more frequent; on the north lies the 

 Canno Chiquire, inhabited by the Guaicas, an- 

 other tribe of white Indians ; and two leagues 

 distant is the mouth of the Gehette, where there 

 is a great cataract. A dyke of granitic rocks 

 crosses the Oroonoko ; these rocks are the 

 columns of Hercules, beyond which no white 

 man has been able to penetrate. It appears, that 

 this point, known by the name of the great 

 Randal de Guaharibos, is three quarters of 

 a degree west of Esmeralda, cansequently in 

 67° 38' of longitude. A military expedition, 

 undertaken by the commander of the fort of San 

 Carlos, Don Francisco Bovadilla, to discover the 

 sources of the Oroonoko, led to the most minute 

 information we had respecting the cataracts of 

 the Guahariboes. This commander had heard, 



