56 
Botanical Reminiscences, 
1° 40' N. latitude on the Patiparu. They appear again under 
the 4° 40' N. latitude and 61"" 3' W. longitude ; and on the 
Orinoco and Culinacara, on the Casiquiare, and exactly agree 
with those found by yon Martins, near the River Yepura ; 
those we now saw belonged to the same age and to the same 
people. 
As soon as they were observed by the Indians they mur-^ 
mered in a suppressed voice, Makuneima, Makuneima.^^ 
(God, God.) 
The hieroglyphics discovered by Martins are situated 
between 75° to 76° west longitude, some minutes south of the 
equator ; Alexander von Humboldt found them between 2°, 
3°, 7°, and 8° north latitude, and 68° and 69° west longitude 
from Paris. From an approximate astronomical observation 
those which we found here were situated under 4° 40' north 
latitude, and 61° 3' west longitude from Greenwich. If we 
connect the discoveries of the first named gentleman with our 
observation, we see that these hieroglyphics and sculptures, 
as far as the Kukenam, run under 5° N. latitude, and 61° 
W. longitude. According to this survey these hierogliphics 
are distributed from 1° 40' H. latitude, and 56° 41' to 62° 
W. longitude. 
A mystery not yet solved hangs over these sculptured rocks. 
The Indians can give no account of their origin, Some tribes 
ascribe it to the good spirit, others to their forefathers. 
Considering the hardness of the granite on which they are 
mostly found, and that by the discovery of America iron was 
unknown to the inhabitants, it is a riddle how they were 
produced in this hard stone. It is said that they were en- 
graved by means of friction with quartz pebbles ; what 
weary patience to accomplish it. Although I entirely for- 
bear a critical examination of the many hypotheses which 
have been inquired into in promoting the knowledge of these 
remains of an unknown passage and state of culture, it 
appears to me that they certainly prove that the population 
of the past time has been not alone much more numerous but 
also more civilized. 
The summit of the mountain rose several hundred feet 
above the place we now occupied. Far in the north towered 
the cloudy Roraima. Our eyes were directed towards a 
declivity in tKe distance over which was rushing a foaming 
stream which lost itself again among the thick vegetation 
on the base of the declivity. The cry of the Indians, Rue- 
