692 



led in the woods, our dress was not in very good 

 order, Mr. Bonpland and I hastened to present 

 ourselves to Don Felipe de Ynciarte, the gover- 

 nor of the province of Guyana. He received us 

 in the most obliging manner, and made us lodge 

 with the secretary of the intendance. Coming 

 from an almost desert country, we were struck 

 with the bustle of a town, which has only six 

 thousand inhabitants. We admired the conve- 

 niences, with which industry and commerce fur- 

 nish civilized man. Humble dwellings appeared 

 - to us magnificent; and every person, with whom 

 we conversed, seemed to be endowed with su- 

 perior intelligence. Long privations give a value 

 to the smallest enjoyments ; and I cannot ex- 

 press the pleasure, with which we saw for the 

 first time wheaten bread on the governor's table. 

 I am perhaps wrong in recording sensations, that 

 are familiar to all those who have made distant 

 voyages. We enjoy the happiness of finding 



nando de Apure to Cabruta, 34 nautical leagues j from Ca- 

 bruta, or from the confluence of the Oroonoko and the Apure, 

 to Javita, 120 1. ; from Javita to San Carlos del Rio Negro, 

 30 1. ; from San Carlos to Esmeralda, 70 1. - y from Esmeralda 

 to Angostura, 250 1. Supposing the sources of the Oroonoko 

 to be 30 leagues east of Esmeralda, we find, that the course 

 of the Upper Oroonoko above the Raudale of Maypures com- 

 prises 175 leagues ; the Lower Oroonoko (from Maypures 

 to the mouths of the river) 260 1. In these estimations the 

 sinuosities of the rivers are assumed, with Mr. de la Conda- 

 mine, to be one third of the direct distance. 



