562 



latter were dangerously wounded, and Bovadilla 

 found himself forced to give the signal of battle. 

 A horrible carnage ensued among the natives, 

 but none of the Dutch Negroes, who it was be- 

 lieved had taken refuge in those parts, were 

 found. Notwithstanding a victory so easily 

 won, the Spaniards did not dare to advance to- 

 ward the east in a mountainous country, and 

 along a river inclosed by very high banks. 



The Guahariboes hlancos have constructed a 

 bridge of lianas above the cataracts, supported 

 on rocks that rise, as it generally happens in the 

 Pongos of the Upper Maragnon, in the middle 

 of the river. The existence of this bridge *, 

 which is known to all the inhabitants of Esme- 

 ralda, seems to indicate, that the Oroonoko is 

 already very narrow at this point. It is gene- 

 rally estimated by the Indians to be only two 

 or three hundred feet broad. They say, that 

 the Oroonoko above the Raudal of the Guahari- 

 boes is no longer a river, but a brook (ria- 

 chuelo) ; while a well-informed ecclesiastic, Fray 

 Juan Gonzales, who had visited those countries, 

 assured me, that the Oroonoko, where it's ulte- 



* The Amazon also is passed twice on bridges of wood 

 near it's origin in the lake Lauricocha ; first north of Cha- 

 vin, and then below the confluence of the Rio Aguamiras. 

 These., the only two bridges that have been thrown over the 

 largest river we yet know, are called Puente de Quivilla, and 

 Puente de Guancaybamba. 



