392 



merit, full of fine paintings, containing the privi- 

 leges of this little town. The parchment arrived 

 from Madrid, at the solicitation of the monks, 

 when yet only a few huts of reeds were to be seen 

 around a great cross raised in the centre of the 

 hamlet. The missionaries and the secular go- 

 vernments being alike interested in exaggerat- 

 ing in Europe what they have done to augment 

 the culture and population of the provinces be- 

 yond sea, it often happens, that names of towns 

 and villages are placed on the list of new con- 

 quests, long before their foundation. We shall 

 point out some on the banks of the Oroonoko 

 and the Cassiquiare, which, long projected, 

 have never had any other existence than in the 

 maps of the missions engraved at Rome and 

 Madrid. 



The situation of San Fernando, on a large 

 navigable river, near the mouth of another river, 

 that traverses the whole province of Varinas, is 

 extremely advantageous for trade. Every pro- 

 duction of that province^ hides, cacao, cotton, 

 and the indigo of Mijagual which is of the first 

 quality, passes through this town toward the 

 mouths of the Oroonoko. During the season 

 of rains large vessels go from Angostura up as 

 far as San Fernando de Apure, and by the Rio 

 Santo Domingo as far as Torunos, the port of 

 the town of Varinas. At that period the inun- 

 dations of the rivers, which form a labyrinth of 



