CH. XXVII 
INDIAN ROCK-PICTURES 
475 
the Barre nation, to point out to me any engraved 
rocks which lay in our way. On reaching the Pedra 
de Culimacari, a bed of granite a Httle bevond the 
mouth of the Pacimoni, we found it still under water, 
so that the figures seen there and copied by Hum- 
boldt in the beginning of the century were not 
visible. The pilot consoled me by saying that when 
we reached the Laja de Capibara he would show 
me there ten times more figures than I had missed 
seeing at Culimacari. On the 9th of December we 
passed the mouth of Lake Vasiva, and on the iith 
reached a modern Indian village called Yamadu- 
bani (Wild Man's Land), or more commonly Pueblo 
de Ponciano, having been founded by an Indian 
named Ponciano, who was not long dead. Early 
on the morning of the 13th we came upon the 
deserted site of another village called Capibara, 
being the no77i de guein^e of its founder, after whose 
death it has become depopulated. It is on the left 
(S.E.) side of the Casiquiari. Leaving here part 
of the crew to cook our breakfast, I took with me 
the rest, and under the guidance of the pilot struck 
into the forest in quest of picture-writing. After 
walking about half a mile, we came out on large flat 
sheets of granite rock, naked save where in fissures 
of the rock there were small oases of vegetation, 
the first plants to establish themselves there being 
a few lichens and mosses, and, rarely, some stunted 
shrubs. The bare places, one of which was an acre 
in extent, were covered with rude figures, the out- 
lines of which were about half an inch wide, and 
were graven in the rock to nearly an inch deep. 
The figures were in perfect preservation except that 
in rare cases they were obliterated by the shaling of 
