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CHAPTER XVIII. 



San Fernando de Apure. — Interfwinings, and 

 bifurcations of the rivers Apure and Arauca, 

 —Navigation on the Rio Apure. 



Till the second half of the eighteenth century 

 the names of the great rivers Apure, Arauca^ 

 and Meta were scarcely known in Europe ; even 

 less than they had been in the two preceding 

 ages, when the valiant Felipe de Urre, and 

 the conquerors of Tocuyo, traversed the Llanos, 

 to seek beyond the Apure the great city of Do- 

 rado, and the rich country of the Omeguas, the 

 Toinbuctoo of the New Continent. Such dar- 

 ing expeditions could not be made without all 

 the apparatus of war; and the weapons, that 

 were meant for the defence of the new colonists, 

 were employed without intermission against the 

 unhappy natives. When more peaceful times 

 succeeded to those of violence and public cala- 

 mity, two powerful Indian tribes, the Cabres 

 and the Caribbees of the Oroonoko, rendered 

 themselves masters of the country, which >the 



