808 



teen months between Punta Barima and the 

 confluence of the Caroni in constructing flat- 

 bottomed boats, and making the preparations 

 indispensable for a long voyage. We cannot 

 read without astonishment the narrative of those 

 daring enterprises, in which three or four hun- 

 dred horses were embarked, to be put ashore 

 whenever cavalry could act on one of the banks. 

 We find in the expedition of Herera the same 

 stations, which we already knew ; the fortress 

 of Paria, the Indian village of Uriaparia (no 

 doubt below Jmataca, on a point where the 

 inundations of the Delta prevented the Span- 

 iards from being able to procure firewood), 

 Caroa, in the province of Carora* ; the rivers 

 Caranaca (Caura?) and Caxavana (Cuchivero?) ; 



* Probably the territory of the raissious of Carony, inha- 

 bited by Caribbees, along the Rio Aquire {Aquil of Herera). 

 The initial syllable car denotes a Caribbee origin, as in Cari- 

 aco, Carupano, Caripe, Caroni (Caruni), Carapo, &c. (Garcia, 

 del Origen de^hslndios, p. 234). Caribana, near the gulf of 

 Parien, the ancient seat of the Caribbees, was called Cariai. 

 (Petr. Martyr, p. 242, 255. Churchill, p. 608. Gomara, p. 

 35. Lettera rarissima di Christ. {Colombo, 1810, p. 25.) The 

 ancient name of the island of Guadaloupe was Carucueira ; 

 and that of the island of Trinidad, Cairi. {Geraldini, p. 193.) 

 A great number of the geographical names of those regions 

 were no doubt significative t since they are found several times 

 along the coast of Paria, and in the West India islands j 

 such as Tacarigua, Cumana, Chuparipari, Arauca, Cariero, 

 and Gauya-Guajare. 



