639 



plays a more majestic aspect, than when con- 

 templated from the hut of the missionary, Fray 

 Ramon Bueno. It is more than two thousand 

 six hundred toises broad # , and runs without 

 any winding, like a vast canal, straight toward 

 the east. Two long and narrow islands (Ma 

 de Uruana and Isla vieja de la Manteca) con- 

 tribute to give extent to the bed of the river ; 

 the two banks are parallel, and we cannot call 

 it divided into different branches. The mission 

 is inhabited by the Otomacs-fv a tribe in the 

 rudest state, and presenting one of the inost 

 extraordinary physiological phenomena. JThe 

 Otomacs eat earth; that is, they swallow every 

 day, during several months, very considerable 

 quantities, to appease hunger, without injuring 

 their health. Since my return to Europe, this 

 incontestable fact has become a subject of warm 

 dispute, because two assertions have been con- 

 founded together, which are extremely different; 

 that of eating earth, and that of being nourished 

 by it. Though we could stay only one day at 

 Uruana, this short space of time sufficed to in- 

 struct us in the preparation of the poya (or balls 

 of earth). I also found some traces of this vi- 

 tiated appetite among the Guamoes; and be- 

 tween the confluence of the Meta and the Apure, 



* Base, 140 metres, angles 90° and 88° 27' 40". Breadth 

 5211 metres. 



f Otomacos in Spanish, Ottomacu in Indian. 



