609 



little village of Santa Barbara, where we found 

 several Indians of Esmeralda, who had come 

 with great regret, by order of the missionary, 

 to construct a house for him of two stories* 

 During the whole day we enjoyed the view of 

 the fine mountains of Sipapo % which rise at a 

 distance of more than eighteen leagues toward 

 the north-north-west. The vegetation of the 

 banks of the Oroonoko is singularly varied in 

 this part of the country; the arborescent ferns*}- 

 descended from the mountains, and mingled 

 with the palm-trees of the plain. We rested 

 that night on the island of Minisi ; and, after 

 having passed the mouths of the little rivers 

 Quejanuma, Ubua, and Masao, we arrived, on 

 the 27th of May, at San Fernando de Atabapo. 

 It was a month since we had lodged in the same 

 house belonging to the president of the missions 

 when going up the Rio Negro. We then di- 

 rected our course toward the south, by the 

 Atabapo and the Temi ; we now returned from 

 the west, having made a long circuit by the 

 Cassiquiare and the Upper Oroonoko. During 

 this long absence, the president of the missions 

 had conceived serious inquietudes respecting the 



* See above, p. 175. 



t The geographical distribution of these plants is extremely 

 singular. Scarcely any are found on the eastern coast of 

 Brazil. (See the interesting work of Prince Maximilian of 

 Neuwied, Reise nach Brasilien, vol. i, p. 274.) 



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