206 



when the jesuit Roman made his memorable 

 expedition from the Oroonoko to the Rio Negro, 

 Macapu suffered this missionary to take with 

 him some families of the Guaypunabis, to settle 

 them at Uruana, and near the cataract of May- 

 pures. I have already observed, that this peo- 

 ple belong, from their language, to the great 

 branch of the Maypure nations. They are 

 more industrious, we might also say more civi- 

 lized, than the other nations of the Upper Oroo- 

 noko. The missionaries relate, that the Guay- 

 punabis, at the time of their sway in those coun- 

 tries, were pretty generally clothed, and had 

 considerable villages. After the death of Ma- 

 capu, the command devolved on another war- 

 rior, Cuseru, called by the Spaniards Captain 

 Cruzero. He established lines of defence on 

 the banks of the Inirida, with a kind of little 

 fort, constructed of earth and timber. The 

 piles were more than sixteen feet high, and sur- 

 rounded both the house of the apoto and a maga- 

 zine of bows and arrows. Father Forneri ha& 

 described this building, remarkable in a coun- 

 try in other respects so savage. 



The Marepizanas and the Manitivitanoes 

 were the preponderant nations on the banks of 

 the Rio Negro. The former had for it's chiefs, 

 about the year 1750, two warriors called Imu 

 and Cajamu. The king of the Manitivitanoes 

 was Cocuy, famous for his cruelty and his re- 



