833 



settlement, which had been made by Berrio 

 under the name of Santo Thome (la Vieja Guay- 

 ana). This settlement however dates from 

 1591 ; and though, according to Fray Pedro 

 Simon, u religion and policy prohibited all mer- 

 cantile connection between Christians (Spani- 

 ards) and Heretics (the Dutch and English)," 

 there was then carried on at the end of the 

 16th century, as in our days, an active contra- 

 band trade by the mouths of the Oroonoko. 

 Raleigh passed the river Eur opa (Guarapo),and 

 " the plains of Say mas (Chaymas # ), which ex- 

 tend, keeping the same level, as far as Cumana 

 and Caraccas ;" he stopped at Morequito (per- 

 haps a little to the north of the site of the villa 

 de Upata, in the missions of the Carony), where 

 an old cacique confirmed to him all the reveries 

 of Berrio on the irruption of foreign nations 

 (Orejones and Epuremei) into Guyana. The 

 Raudales or cataracts of the Caroli (Carony), a 

 river which was at that period considered as 

 the shortest way for reaching the towns of 

 Macureguarai and Manoa, situate on the banks 

 of lake Cassipa and of lake Rupunuwini or Do- 

 rado, put an end to this expedition. 



Raleigh went scarcely the distance of sixty 

 leagues along the Oroonoko ; but he names the 

 upper tributary streams, according to the vague 



* See above, vol. iii, p. 221-77. 

 VOL. V. 3 H 



