36 



shoals and little rocks, that obstruct the bed of 

 the river near Atures and Maypures. 



While our boat was unloading, we examined 

 closely, wherever the shore could be approached, 

 the terrific spectacle of a great river narrowed 

 and reduced as it were to foam. I shall endea- 

 vour to paint, not the sensations we felt, but the 

 aspect of a spot so celebrated among the scenes 

 of the new world. The more imposing and ma- 

 jestic the objects we describe, the more essential 

 it becomes, to seize them in their smallest de- 

 tails, to fix the outline of the picture we would 

 present to the imagination of the reader, and to 

 describe with simplicity what characterizes the 

 great and imperishable monuments of nature. 



The navigation of the Oroonoko from it's 

 mouth as far as the confluence of the Anaveni, 

 an extent of 260 leagues, is not impeded. There 

 are shoals and eddies near Muitaco, in a cove 

 that bears the name of the Mouth of Hell*; 

 and there are rapids -f* (Raudelitos) near Cari- 

 chana and San Borja : but in all these places 

 the river is never entirely barred, as a channel 

 is left by which boats can pass up and down. 



In all this navigation of the Lower Oroonoko, 

 travellers experience no other danger than that 

 of the natural rafts formed by trees, which are 



* Boca del Infierno. 



f The three raudales of Marimara, Cariven, and Tabaje, 

 which we have described in vol. iv. p. 543, 561, and 509. 



