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by the Jesuits, probably belonged to Portugueze 

 traders, who had penetrated into these savage 

 countries. Now may we suppose, that the skulls 

 of European race, which we saw mingled w r ith 

 the skeletons of the natives, and preserved with 

 the same care, were the remains of some Portu- 

 gueze travellers, who had died of sickness, or 

 had been killed in battle ? The aversion which 

 the natives affect for whatever is not of their 

 own race renders this hypothesis little probable. 

 Perhaps fugitive mestizoes of the missions of the 

 Meta and Apure may have come and settled 

 near the Cataracts, marrying women of the 

 tribe of the Atures. Such mixed marriages 

 sometimes take place in this zone, though they 

 are more rare than in Canada, and in the whole 

 of North America, where hunters of European 

 origin unite themselves with savages, assume 

 their habits, and sometimes acquire great politi- 

 cal influence. 



We took several skulls, the skeleton of a child 

 of six or seven years old, and two of full-grown 

 men of the nation of the Atures, from the cavern 

 of Ataruipe. All these bones, partly painted red, 

 partly varnished with odoriferous resins, were 

 placed in the baskets (mapires or canastos), 

 which we have just described. They made 

 almost the whole load of a mule ; and as we knew 

 the superstitious aversion of the Indians for dead 

 bodies, when they have given them sepulture, 



