605 



next to the Guaviare, appeared to me to be 

 the most considerable tributary stream of the 

 Oroonoko. It's banks, heretofore occupied by 

 the Maypures, are still peopled by a great num- 

 ber of independant nations. On going up by the 

 mouth of the Ventuari, which forms a delta 

 covered with palm-trees *, you find on the east, 

 after three days journey, the Cumaruita and the 

 Paru, two streams that rise at the foot of the 

 lofty mountains of Cuneva. Higher up, on the 

 west, lie the Mariata and the Manipiare ~}~, in- 

 habited by the Macoes and Curacicanas. The 

 latter nation is remarkable for the ardour with 

 which it cultivates cotton. In a hostile incur- 

 sion (enirada) a large house was found contain- 

 ing more than thirty or forty hammocks of a 

 very fine texture of spun cotton, cordage, and 

 fishing implements. The natives had fled ; and 

 Father Valor informed us, " that the Indians of 

 the mission, who accompanied him, had set fire 

 to the house, before he could save these produc- 

 tions of the industry of the Curacicanas/' The 

 neophytes of Santa Barbara, who think them- 

 selves very superior to these pretended savages* 

 appeared to me far less industrious. The Rio 

 Manipiare, one of the principal branches of the 



* Palma del Cucurito* 



+ Rio Manapiari, according to the pronunciation of the 

 Indians of Esmeralda. 



