537 



impracticable. With some gaiety of temper, 

 with dispositions of mutual benevolence, and 

 with a vivid taste for the majestic nature of these 

 great valleys of rivers, travellers easily support 

 evils that become habitual. I have entered into 

 these minute details, only to paint the manner 

 of navigating on the Oroonoko ; and to prove, 

 that, notwithstanding our earnest desire, Mr. 

 Bonpland and I could not multiply our observa- 

 tions as much as the interesting nature of the 

 surrounding objects demanded. 



Our Indians showed us the place on the right 

 bank of the river, where the mission of Pararu- 

 ma, founded by the Jesuits about the year 1733, 

 was formerly situated. The mortality occa- 

 sioned by the smallpox among the Saliva Indians 

 was the principal cause of the destruction of the 

 mission. The few inhabitants, who survived this 

 cruel epidemic, were joined to the village of 

 Carichana, which we shall soon visit. It was 

 at Pararuma, that, according to the testimony of 

 Father Roman, hail was seen to fall during a 

 great storm, about the middle of the last cen- 

 tury. This is almost the only instance of it I 

 know iH a plain, that is nearly on a level with 

 the sea; for hail falls generally between the tro- 

 pics only at three hundred toises of elevation * 



* See above, vol. iii, p. 463. In a very ingenious discus- 

 sion on the meteorology of the tropics and of the temperate 



