804 



two small vessels. They hastened to get out of 

 the mouth of the Amazon ; and the currents, 

 which in those parts run with violence to the 

 north-west, led Ordaz to the coast of Paria, 

 where in the territory of the cacique Yuripari 

 (Uriapari, Viapari), Sedeno had constructed 

 the Casa fuerte de Paria*. This post being 

 very near the mouth of the Oroonoko, the 

 Mexican conquistador resolved to attempt an 

 expedition on this great river. He sojourned 

 first at Carao (Caroa, Carora), a large Indian 

 village, which appears to me to have been a 

 little to the east of the confluence of the Carony ; 

 he then went up the Cabruta (Cabuta, Cabritu), 

 and to the mouth of the Meta ( Met amy u ) , where 

 he found great difficulty in passing his boats 

 through the Raudal of Cariven. We have seen 

 above, that the bed of the Oroonoko near the 

 mouth of the Meta is filled with shoals. The 

 Aruacas, whom Ordaz employed as guides ad- 

 vised him to go up the Meta ; where, on ad- 

 vancing towards the west, they asserted he 



* This station, and those of Cubagua, Araya, and Maca- 

 rapana (Amaracapan), were celebrated in the 16th century, 

 as are in our days those of Sierra Leone and Port Jackson. 

 The situation of the fortress of Paria appears to me to have 

 been, not on the coast of Paria, but to the south of it, be- 

 tween the Guarapiche and the mouth of the Cano Manamo. 

 Very ancient maps sometimes even place the Fuerte in the 

 delta of the Oroonoko. It must be observed too, that the 

 name of Paria was then applied to a great part of South 

 America. 



