GROWTH OF SAN CARLOS 475 
Carlos, and the other pueblos above, sometimes 
of considerable size, and since I came to the Rio 
Negro, a schooner of 145 tons was built in Tomo 
and sent down to Para. About an equal number 
are built every year for the Rio Negro and Orinoco, 
and it is only when these rivers are full that large 
vessels can pass down the cataracts ; of course they 
never come up again. This branch of industry 
necessitates the sawing of a good many planks, and 
without rum it is impossible to land logs from a 
raft on the river (most of the timber being cut on 
the Casiquiari), or mount them over the saw-pit, 
or launch a vessel when it is completed ; each of 
these operations having its stated price in gallons 
of rum. Sometimes the whole Indian population 
will be drunk together, and when this is the case 
they enter without ceremony the houses of the 
whites to ask for more rum, quite prepared to take 
it by force if refused. Such a circumstance 
occurred the very day I reached San Carlos, and 
made me almost repent of having come. 
On the Growth of San Carlos 
Journal ) 
San Carlos seems to have grown up into a 
Pueblo since 1830, in consequence of the boat- 
building that is carried on there. Anteriorly there 
were but two or three houses besides the fort, 
which is on the opposite side of the river and a 
little lower down. 
