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or three hundred toises. Since my return to 

 Europe, the communications between the mouth 

 of the Oroonoko and the provinces situate on the 

 eastern slope of the mountains of Merida, Pam- 

 plona, and Santa Fe de Bogota, are become more 

 active ; and it may be hoped that steamboats 

 will facilitate these long voyages on the Lower 

 Oroonoko, the Portuguesa, the Rio Santo Do- 

 mingo, the Orivante, the Meta, and the Gua- 

 viare. Magazines of cleft wood might be form- 

 ed, as on the banks of the great rivers of the 

 United States, sheltering them under sheds. 

 This precaution would be indispensable, as, in 

 the country through which we passed, it is not 

 easy to procure dry fuel fit to keep up a brisk 

 fire beneath the boiler of a steam engine. 



We disembarked below San Rafael del Capu- 

 chino, on the right, at the Villa de Caycara, near 

 a cove called Puerto Sedeno. It is a collection 

 of a small number of houses, that bears the 

 pompous name of villa. Alta Gracia, la Ciudad 

 de la Piedra, Real Corona, Borbon, all the towns 

 that lie between the mouth of the Apure and 

 Angostura, are equally miserable. I mentioned 

 above, that the presidents of the missions, and 

 the governors of the provinces, had formerly the 

 habit of demanding the privileges of villas and 

 ciudades at Madrid, the moment the first foun- 

 dations of a church were laid. This was a 

 means of persuading the ministry, that the colo- 



