531 



observe them during several months in the open 

 air, and not i{i houses, where they lose all their 

 natural vivacity. 



The lading of the new canoe intended for us 

 was begun this very evening. It was, like all 

 Indian boats, a trunk of a tree hollowed out by 

 the double means of the hatchet and of fire. It 

 was forty feet long, and three broad. Three 

 persons could not sit in it side by side. These 

 canoes are so crank, they require, from their 

 instability, a cargo so equally distributed, that, 

 when you want to rise for an instant, you must % 

 warn the rowers (bogas) to lean to the opposite 

 side. Without this precaution the water would 

 necessarily enter the side pressed down. It is 

 difficult to form a just idea of the inconvenien- 

 ces, that are suffered in such wretched vessels. 



The missionary of the Raudales made the pre- 

 parations for the voyage with greater activity 

 than we wished. From fear of not having a 

 sufficient number of Maco and Guahibe Indians, 

 who are acquainted with the labyrinth of small 

 channels and cascades, of which the Raudales 

 or cataracts are composed, two Indians were 

 put during the night in the cepo; , that is to say, 

 made to lie with their legs placed between two 

 pieces of wood, notched and fastened together 

 by a chain with a padlock. Early in the morn- 

 ing we were awakened by the cries of a young 

 man, mercilessly beaten with a whip of manatee 

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