464 



Within, coarse grained, and destitute of horn- 

 blende. 



The Indian names of the mission of San Luis 

 del Encaramada, are Guaja and Caramana*. 

 This small village was founded in 1749 by Fa- 

 ther Gili, the Jesuit, author of the Storia dell 

 Orinoco, published at Rome. This missionary, 

 learned in the Indian tongues, lived in this soli- 

 tude during eighteen years, till the expulsion of 

 the Jesuits. To form a precise idea of the sa- 

 vage state of these countries, we must recollect, 



* All the missions of South America have names composed 

 of two words, the first of which is necessarily the name of 

 a saint, the patron of the church, and the second an Indian 

 name, that of the nation, or the spot where the establishment is 

 placed. Thus we say, San Jose de Maypures, Santa Cruz de 

 Cachipo, San Juan Nepomuceno de los Atures, &c. These 

 compound names appear only in the official documents ; the 

 inhabitants adopt but one of the two names, and generally, 

 provided it be sonorous, the Indian. As the names of saints 

 are several times repeated in neighbouring places, great con- 

 fusion in geography arises from these repetitions. The names 

 of San Juan, San Diego, and San Pedro, are scattered in our 

 maps as if by chance. It is pretended, that the mission of 

 Guaji affords a very rare example of the composition of two 

 Spanish words. The word Encaramada means things raised 

 one upon another, from encaramar^ attollere. It is derived from 

 the figure of Tepupano and the neighbouring rocks : perhaps 

 it is only an Indian word, caramana, in whit h, as in manati 

 from a love for etymology, a Spanish signification was be-* 

 lieved to be discovered. 



