535 



reeds (carices) on the bank of the river. Men 

 in a state of nature, in every zone, make great 

 use of these gramina with high stalks. The 

 Greeks said with truth, that reeds had contri- 

 buted to subjugate nations by furnishing arrows, 

 to soften men's manners by the charm of music, 

 and to unfold their understandings by affording 

 the first instruments for tracing letters. These 

 different uses of reeds mark in some sort three 

 different periods in the life of nations. We 

 must admit, that the tribes of the Oroonoko 

 are found at the first step of dawning civiliza- 

 tion. The reed serves them only as an instru- 

 ment of war and of hunting ; and the Pan's 

 pipes, of which we have spoken, have not yet, on 

 those distant shores, yielded sounds capable of 

 awakening mild and humane feelings. 



We found in the hut allotted for the festival 

 several vegetable productions, which the Indians 

 had brought from the mountains of Guanaya, 

 and which fixed all our attention. I shall only 

 stop here to mention the fruit of the ju via, reeds 

 of a prodigious length, and shirts made of the 

 bark of marima. The almendron, or juvia, one of 

 the most majestic trees of the forests of the New 

 World, was almost unknown before our voyage 

 to the Rio Negro. It begins to be found four 

 days distance east of Esmeralda, between the 

 Padamo and Ocamo, at the foot of the Cerro 

 Mapaya, on the right bank of the Oroonoko. 



