708 



humid banks of the Oroonoko, below the mouth 

 of the Carony, yield an immense quantity of 

 squashes*, plantains, and papaws-f. These fruits 

 were eaten raw, even before they had reached 

 their maturity ; and the people being at the same 

 time addicted to the use of spirituous liquors in 

 excess, this improper way of living diminished the 

 population from year to year. The archives of 

 Caraccas are filled with memorials on the neces- 

 sity of changing the seat of the present capital of 

 Guyana. According to the official papers which 

 have been communicated to me, it has been pro- 

 posed sometimes to go back to the Fortaleza or 

 Vieja Guayana ; sometimes to place the capital 

 close to the great mouth of the Oroonoko, ten 

 leagues west of Cape Parima, at the confluence of 

 the Rio Acquire;}; ; and sometimes to have it re- 

 moved twen ty-fi ve leagues below Angostura, to the 

 fine savannah that surrounds the Indian village 

 of San Miguel. The government was no doubt 

 influenced by a narrow policy in pretending, 

 that, " for the better defence of the province, it 

 Was fit to place the capital at the enormous 

 distance of eighty-five leagues from the sea, 

 and to construct no town in this space, that 

 could be exposed to the incursions of the ene- 



* Patillas. 

 f Fruit of the carica papaya. 

 X Mr. de Pons calls it the Rio Aguirrc (vol. iii, p. 333). 

 Compare Cautin, p. 56. 



