673 



tions*, with their tents of buffalo leather. It is 

 well known, that employing dogs as beasts of 

 burden and of draught is equally common near 

 the Slave Lake, and in Siberia. I dwell on these 

 features of conformity in the manners of nations, 

 which become of some weight, when they are 

 far from solitary, and are connected with the 

 analogies furnished by the structure of languages, 

 the division of time, and religious creeds and 

 institutions. * 



We passed the night at the island of Cucuru- 

 paru-}~, called also Play a de la Tortuga, because 

 the Indians of Uruana go thither to collect the 

 turtles' eggs. It is one of the best determined 

 points of latitude along the banks of the Oroo- 

 noko. I was there fortunate enough to observe 

 the passage of three stars over the meridian J. 



* See the Journal of the Tour of Bishop Tamaron, fol. 7 

 (manuscript), and my JEssai polit ., vol. i, p. 290. 



f Gili (vol. i, p. 99) writes Curucuruparu. 



% See vol. iv, p. 479. I found hy ec of the Southern Cross 

 7° 15' 30" j by a of the Centaur, 7° I5'43'' ; by 0 of the 

 Centaur, 7° 15' 42". I consider as doubtful, on my itinerary 

 map, PL 16, the situation of the mouth of the Cano de la Tor- 

 tuga. As the Oroonoko has the immense breadth of two 

 thousand toises, and the boats do not descend along the same 

 bank by which they go up, it is difficult to make the bearings 

 tally. Between Caycara and the Great Cataracts I deter- 

 mined astronomically San Rafael del Capuchino, the mouth 

 of the Apure, the island of Cucuruparu, the mission of Uru- 

 ana, and Atures. I could determine only the longitude of 



VOL. v. 2 X 



