629 



Coffins are seen deposited on the banks of great 

 rivers, in order to be transported, with the fur- 

 niture of the family, to a remote province. 

 These removals of bones, heretofore more com- 

 mon * among the savages of North America, is 

 not practised among the tribes of Guyana ; but 

 these are not nomades, like nations that live 

 exclusively by hunting. 



We staid at the mission of Atures only the 

 time necessary for passing the canoe through the 

 Great Cataract. The bottom of our frail bark 

 was become so thin, that it required great care, 

 to prevent it from splitting. We took leave of 

 the missionary, Bernardo Zea, who remained at 

 Atures, after having accompanied us during two 

 months, and shared all our sufferings. This 

 poor monk continued to have the same fits of a 

 tertian ague ; but to him they had become an 

 habitual evil, to which he paid little attention. 

 Other fevers of a more detructive kind prevailed 

 at Atures, at our second visit. The greater 

 part of the Indians could not leave their ham- 

 mocks, and we were obliged to send in search of 

 cassava bread, the most indispensable food of the 

 country, to the independant but neighbouring 

 tribe of the Piraoas. We had hitherto escaped 



* The missionaries of the United States complain of the 

 noisome smell, that is diffused by the Nanticokes, when tra- 

 velling with the bones of their ancestors. Histoir. trans., 

 1819, vol. i, p. 75. 



