507 



of these large reptiles, those of the manatees, 

 which weigh five hundred pounds, and the pre- 

 sence of the porpoises (torinas) with their muci- 

 laginous skin, may contaminate the water, es- 

 pecially in the creeks, where the river has little 

 velocity. Yet the spots, where we found the 

 most fetid water, were not always those, where 

 dead animals were accumulated on the beach. 

 When, in such ardent climates, where we are 

 constantly tormented by thirst, we are reduced 

 to drink the water of a river at the temperature 

 of 27° or 28°, it were to be wished at least, that 

 water so hot, and so loaded with sand, should be 

 free from smell. 



April the 8th. We passed the mouths of the 

 Suapure, or Sivapuri, and the Caripo, on the 

 East ; and that of the Sinaruco on the West. 

 This last river is, next to the Rio Arauca, the 

 most considerable between the Apure and the 

 IVIeta. The Suapure, full of little cascades, is 

 celebrated among the Indians for the quantity 

 of wild honey, which the forests in it's neigh- 

 bourhood afford. The meliponse there suspend 

 their enormous hives to the branches of trees. 

 Father Gili navigated in 1766 on the Suapure, 

 and on the Turiva, which falls into it. He there 

 found tribes of the nation of Areverians. We 

 passed the night a little below the island Maca- 

 pina. 



April the 9th. We arrived early in the morn- 



