56 



vain efforts, succeed in fixing" a rope to one of the 

 points of rock that crown the dike, and then, 

 by means of this rope, draw the bark to the top 

 of the raudal. The bark, during this arduous 

 task, often fills with water ; at other times it is 

 stove against the rocks, and the Indians, their 

 bodies bruised and bleeding, extricate them- 

 selves with difficulty from the whirlpools, and 

 reach, by swimming, the nearest island. When 

 the steps or rocky barriers are very high, and 

 entirely bar the river, light boats are carried on 

 shore, and with the help of branches of trees 

 placed under them to serve as rollers, they are 

 drawn * as far as the place where the river again 

 becomes navigable. This operation is seldom 

 necessary when the water is high. We cannot 

 speak of the cataracts of the Oroonoko, without 

 recalling to mind the manner heretofore em- 

 ployed for descending the cataracts of the Nile, 

 of which Senecaf- has left us a description pro- 

 bably more poetical than accurate. I shall only 

 cite the passage, which traces with fidelity what 

 may be seen every day at Atures, Maypures, 

 and in some Pongoes of the Amazon. " Two 

 men embark in a small boat, one steers, and the 

 other empties it as it fills with water. Long 



* Arastrando la piragua. From this word arastrar, to 

 draw on the ground, is derived the Spanish term arastradero, 

 a portage, as it is called in North Ameriqa. 



+ Nat. Qucest., lib. \, cap. 2. (Edit. Elzev., torn, ii, p. 609.) 



