569 



the boat, without towing or pushing it forward 

 with their arms, and wearying us with their 

 savage cries. We passed the Cants of Uita and 

 Endava on the West. It was night when we 

 reached the Raudal de Tabaje *. The Indians 

 would not hazard passing the cataract ; and we 

 slept on a very incommodious spot, on the shelf 

 of a rock, with a slope of more than eighteen 

 degrees, and of which the crevices sheltered a 

 swarm of bats. We heard the cries of the jaguar 

 very near us during the whole night. They 

 were answered by our great dog in lengthened 

 howlings. I waited the appearance of the stars 

 in vain ; the sky was of a tremendous blackness ; 

 and the hoarse sounds of the cascades of the 

 Oroonoko contrasted with the noise of the thun- 

 der, that was rolling at a distance toward the 

 forest. 



April the 13th. Early in the morning we 

 passed the Rapids of Tabaje, the limit of Father 

 Gumilla's voyage -f-, and again disembarked. 

 Father Zea, who accompanied us, desired to per- 

 form mass in the new mission of San Borja, es- 

 tablished two years before. We there found six 

 houses inhabited by uncatechised Guahiboes. 



* Tavaje, no doubt Alavaje, 



+ Orenoque \llustr6 (French translation), vol. \, p. 49 and 

 77. Yet Gumilla affirms, p. (36, that he navigated the Gua- 

 viare. He places the Raudal de Taboje in Iat. 1° 4', an error 

 of 5° W. 



