574 



slaves, though in very small numbers, between 

 the Erevato and the Padamo. They would have 

 resisted the attacks of the natives, if, instead of 

 leaving them isolated, and solely dependant on 

 the soldiers, they had been formed into commu- 

 nities, and governed like the villages of neophyte 

 Indians. 



We left the mission of Esmeralda on the 23d 

 of May. Without being ill, we felt ourselves in 

 a state of languor and weakness, caused by the 

 torment of insects, bad nourishment, and a long 

 voyage, in narrow and damp boats. We had 

 not gone up the Oroonoko beyond the mouth of 

 the Rio Guapo, which we should have done, if 

 we could have attempted to reach the sources of 

 the river. In the present state of things, private 

 individuals, who are permitted to enter the mis- 

 sions, should confine their journey to the pacific 

 part of the country. There remain fifteen leagues 

 from the Guapo to the Raudal of the Guahari- 

 boes. At this cataract, which is passed on a 

 bridge of lianas, Indians are posted armed with 

 bows and arrows, who prevent the whites, or 



to believe, that the Upper Erevato is found in nature carried 

 so far back toward the west, that the direction of the road 

 from Padamo to the Erevato should be north west. What is 

 more certain, and very remarkable, on account of the position 

 of the mouth of the Ventuari (1° 36' west of Esmeralda), is, 

 that we find the sources of the Ventuari, or rather the upper 

 part of it's course, in the direction of the road from the 

 Padamo to the Erevato. 



