734 



in depth and figure. Many pilots are persuaded, 

 that the Cannos of Cocuina, Pedernales, and 

 Maeareo, by which a smuggling trade is carried 

 on with the island of Trinidad, have gained in 

 depth of late years ; and that the river has a 

 tendency to withdraw from the Boca de Navios, 

 and to run toward the north-west. Before the 

 year 1760, barks that drew more than ten or 

 twelve feet of water seldom ventured into the 

 little channels of the delta. The fear of the small 

 mouths of the Oroonoko has now almost vanished g 

 and enemies' ships, which have never navigated 

 in those parts, find officious and experienced 

 guides in the Guaraons. The civilization of this 

 tribe, which may be compared from it's situation 

 to the Nhengahybas or Igaruanas of the mouths 

 of the Amazon, is of the highest importance to 

 a government that would remain master of the 

 Oroonoko. 



The flux and reflux of the tide are felt in 

 the month of April, when the river is lowest, 

 beyond Angostura, at a distance of more than 

 eighty-five leagues * in the inland. At the con- 



* The difference of longitude is 3° 52'. It may seem sur- 

 prising, that, admitting here with common pilots only eighty- 

 five nautical leagues distance, I estimate the sinuosities of 

 the Oroonoko below Angostura only at one ninth. I believe, 

 however, that this estimation is not too small j since,, having 

 measured on a very accurate manuscript map which I possess, 

 with an opening of the compasses of 9 7 , the sinuosities of the 



