510 



ample blue garments, their shorn heads, and 

 their long beards, we might have taken them 

 for natives of the East. These poor priests re- 

 ceived us in the most affectionate manner, giv- 

 ing us every kind of information necessary for 

 the continuation of our voyage. They had suf- 

 fered from tertian fevers for some months ; pale 

 and emaciated, they easily convinced us, that the 

 countries we were going to visit were not with- 

 out danger to the health of travellers. 



The Indian pilot, who had brought us from 

 San Fernando de Apure as far as the shore of 

 Pararuma, was unacquainted with the passage 

 of the rapids # of the Oroonoko, and would not 

 undertake to conduct our bark any farther. 

 We were obliged to conform to his will. Hap- 

 pily for us, the missionary of Carichana con- 

 sented to sell us a fine canoe at a very moderate 

 price : and Father Bernardo Zea, missionary of 

 the Atures and May pu res near the great cata- 

 racts, offered, though ill, to accompany us as far as 

 the frontiers of Brazil. The number of natives, 

 who assist in passing boats through the Raudales 

 is so small, that, but for the presence of the 

 monk, we should have risqued spending whole 

 weeks in these humid and unhealthy regions. 

 On the banks of the Oroonoko, the forests of the 

 Rio Negro are considered as a delicious spot. 



* Little cascades, cfiorros, raudalitos. 



