571 



they remained motionless and in imperturbable 

 apathy. 



The interest with which we examined these 

 poor savages became perhaps the cause of the 

 destruction of the mission. Some among them, 

 who preferred a wandering life to the labours of 

 agriculture, persuaded the rest to return to the 

 plains of the Meta. They told them, " that the 

 white men would come back to San Borja, to 

 take them away in the boats, and sell them as 

 pottos, or slaves, at Angostura." The Guahiboes 

 awaited the news of our return from the Rio 

 Negro by the Cassiquiare ; and when they heard 

 that we were arrived at the first great cataract, 

 that of Atures, they all deserted, and fled to the 

 savannahs that border the Oroonoko on the 

 West. The Jesuit Fathers had already formed 

 a mission on this spot, and bearing the same 

 name. No tribe is more difficult to fix to the 

 soil than the Guahiboes. They like better to feed 

 on stinking fish, scolopendras, and worms, than 

 to cultivate a little spot of ground. The other 

 Indians say, that " a Guahibo eat every thing 

 that exists above, and everything under ground " 



In ascending the Oroonoko more to the South, 

 the heat, far from increasing, became easier to 

 bear. The air in the day was at 26° or 275° * ; 

 and at night, at 23*7° f. The water of the 



* 20 8° or 22° R. 



+ It) 0 R. 



