681 



known by the name of Cabritu*, had existed on 

 the same spot for several ages. At the time 

 when this little place became a Christian settle- 

 ment, it was believed to be situate in the latitude 

 of five degrees^ or two degrees forty minutes 

 more to the south than I found it by direct 

 observations made at San Rafael, and at la 

 Boca del Rio Apure. No idea was then con- 

 ceived of the direction of a road, that could lead 

 by land to Nueva Valencia and Caraccas, which 

 were supposed to be at an immense distance. 

 The merit of having- first crossed the Llanos, to 

 get from the Villa de San Juan Baptista del Pao 

 to Cabruta, belongs to a woman. Father Gili^; 

 relates, that Donna Maria Bargas was so pas- 

 sionately fond of the Jesuits, that she attempted 

 herself to discover the way to the missions. 

 She was seen with astonishment to arrive at 

 Cabruta from the north. She took up her abode 

 near the fathers of Saint Ignatius, and died in 

 their settlements on the banks of the Oroonoko. 



* A cacique of Cabritu received Alonso de Herera at his 

 dwelling, on the expedition he attempted for going up the 

 Oroonoko, in 1535. 



+ See the maps of Gumilla and Caulin. D'Anville ended 

 by guessing better the latitude of Cabruta ; which he places 

 in the first edition of his South America, at 5° 22 7 , but in the 

 second at 7° 2'. The new map of Arrowsmith indicates this 

 important point by the name of Carula. 



X Vol. i, p. 54. 



