235 



terminate this discussion by bringing a direct 

 proof against the assertion of those, who would 

 make the Guainia rise, like the Guaviare and 

 the Caqueta, from the eastern declivity of the 

 Cordillera of the Andes. During my abode at 

 Popayan, the guardian of the convent of St. 

 Francis, Fray Francisco Pugnet, an amiable and 

 judicious man, gave me very precise ideas of the 

 missions of the Andaquies, where he had long 

 resided. He had performed a very difficult jour- 

 ney from the banks of the Caqueta to those of 

 the Guaviare. Since Philip Von Huten (Urre) 

 and the earliest times of the conquest, no Euro- 

 pean had traversed this unknown land. Father 

 Pugnet set out from the mission of Caguan, 

 situate on the Rio Caguan, one of the tributary 

 streams of the Caqueta. He passed over an 

 immense savannah entirely destitute of trees, 

 the eastern parts of which are inhabited by the 

 Tamas and Coreguajes. After six days jour- 

 neying toward the North, he arrived at a small 

 place called Aramo, on the banks of the Guay- 

 avero, about fifteen leagues west of the point, 

 where the Guayavero and the Aiari form the 

 great Rio Guaviare. Aramo is the westernmost 

 village of the missions of San Juan de los Lla- 

 nos. There Father Pugnet heard of the great 

 cataracts of the Rio Guaviare, (those # no doubt^ 



* See above, p. 216. 



