572 



expedition is still mentioned with horror. Con- 

 certed in the deepest silence, it was executed 

 with that concert, which the natives of both 

 Americas, skilful in concealing their hostile pas- 

 sions, know how to practise in whatever con- 

 cerns their common interests. Since 1776 no 

 attempt has been made to reestablish the road, 

 which leads by land from the Upper to the 

 Lower Oroonoko, and no white man has been 

 able to pass from Esmeralda to the Erevato. 

 It is certain however, that in the mountainous 

 lands, between the sources of the Padamo and 

 the Ventuari (near the sites called by the In- 

 dians Aurichapa, Ichuana, and Irique,) there 

 are many spots with a temperate climate, and 

 with pasturages capable of feeding a great num- 

 ber of cattle*. The military posts have been 



* The following are the most precise notions I could 

 obtain on the spot, which differ much from those that father 

 Caulin had acquired in Spain, long after his return from the 

 jLower Oroonoko. The road to the Erevato passed between 

 the mountains of Duida and Maraguaca, near the sources of 

 the Rio Guapo. The military posts were Macha, Mauracare, 

 Maracune, Matapi on the banks of the Padamo, Cointinamo 

 on a tributary stream of the Rio Padamo, Mereico, el Ore- 

 jon, Aurichapa, Irique, Ichuana de la Savana, Maveina, and 

 Periquete on the Upper Ventuario. As, from the extraordi- 

 nary configuration of the land (see above, p. 451), a part of 

 the Upper Oroonoko runs from east to west, in a direction 

 parallel to the Lower Oroonoko, which flows from west to 

 east, geographers, destitute of statements on the longitude 

 of the confluent streams, several of which are in the same 



