564 



Guahariboes, who traffic with hordes much far- 

 ther to the east. The same circumstances take 

 place respecting these stones, as with so many 

 other valuable productions of the Indies. On 

 the coast, at the distance of some hundred 

 leagues, the country where they are found is 

 positively named ; but when the traveller with 

 difficulty penetrates into this country, he dis- 

 covers, that the natives are ignorant even of 

 the name of the object of his research. It 

 might be supposed, that the amulets of saussu- 

 rite found in the possession of the Indians of the 

 Rio Negro come from the Lower Maragnon, 

 while those that are received by the missions of 

 the Upper Oroonoko and the Rio Carony come 

 from a country situate between the sources of the 

 Essequibo and the Rio Branco. Yet, neither sur- 

 geon Hortsmann, a native of Hildesheim, nor don 

 Antonio Santos, whose journal I examined, had 

 seen the amazon stone in it's natural place ; and 

 the opinion that this stone is taken in a soft state 

 like paste from the little lake Amucu, transform- 

 ed into Laguna del Dorado, though very preva- 

 . lent at Angostura, is wholly without foundation. 

 A fine geographic discovery remains to be made 

 in the eastern part of America, that of finding 

 in a primitive soil a rock of euphotide contain- 

 ing the piedra de Macagua. 



I shall here proceed to give some information 

 respecting the tribes of dwarf and fair Indians, 



