4IO NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
grounded and several times ran great risk of being 
swamped, nor did all our force suffice to drag it 
above half-way up the rapid. The river had dried 
much since we had entered it, and indeed since 
leaving the Pueblo de Monagas the drying of the 
rivers may be said to have gone on very rapidly. 
With sorrowful heart I gave the word to return, 
and we again took up a position at the base of the 
fall where a small cano enters on the left. Hastily 
gathering together a few trifles for the Maquiritares, 
I embarked in my curiara (small canoe) with five 
men and set off up the river to visit Tussari. It 
was past lo a.m. when we started, and it was near 
5 P.M. when we reached the pueblo at the base of the 
third fall (Tauarupana). This fall is very difficult 
to pass, as the river is full of rocks among which 
the water tumbles about. ^ 
The pueblo was established only two years ago ; 
previously its site was much higher up the river, 
and Tussari moved down on account of the dangerous 
navigation.' 
In going from the second to the third fall we 
^ The raudales of Rio Cunucunuma, in ascending, are : (i) Casurubi ; (2) 
Uarinama ; (3) Tauarupana ; (4) Curiripana ; (5) Urukarutfori (the Raudal de 
Puerco) ; (6) Mapaku ; (7) Matfipirima ; (8) Paikitu-pupe (Cabiza de Peceri), 
San Francisco ; (9) Mauari-pupe (Cabiza de Culebra), San Jose ; (10) Amekui ; 
(11) Uamupatari, in front of Mount Marayuaca. Of all these raudales the 
eighth is the highest. The sources of the Cunucunuma are at the foot of the 
Cerro de Kuinena. The sources of the Guapo are at the foot of the Cerro de 
Marauaka, The sources of the Padamo are at the foot of the Cerro de Arapami. 
According to Tussari these mountains are nearly equal in height. 
The next pueblo above Sta. Ramona is San Francisco, which contains four 
houses in the style of the whites and one round house. It stands in the middle 
of a small savanna equal in size to that in which Esmeralda is situated. 
Directly to the north of the pueblo and apparently very near, but at more than 
half a day's journey, stretches a lofty wall of rock over which there are four 
or five waterfalls in winter, and two all the year round. A portion of the 
cerro above the wall seems to be woody, but little of it is visible from San 
Francisco. The wall is nearly bare of forest, there being only a little here and 
