220 
arrsTEEioTis sound? 
end tluse records of nature, that it is in our power to con- 
sult. We are ignorant whether the human race, which at 
the time of the discovery of America scarcely formed a few 
feeble tribes on the east of the Cordilleras, had already 
descended into the plains ; or whether the ancient tradition 
of the ‘ great waters,’ which is found among the nations ot 
the Orinoco, the Ercvato, and the Caura, belong to other 
climates, whence it has been propagated to this part of the 
New Continent. 
On the 11th of April, we left Cariehana at two in the 
afternoon, and found the course of the river more and more 
encumbered by blocks of granite rocks. We passed on the 
west the Cano Orupe, and. then the great rock know n by 
the name of Piedra del Tigre. The river is there so deep, 
that no bottom can be found with a line of twenty-two 
fathoms. Towards evening the weather became cloudy 
and gloomy. The proximity of the storm was marked by 
squalls alternating with dead calms. The rain was violent, 
and the roof of foliage, under which we lay, afforded but 
little shelter. Happily these showers drove away the mos- 
quitos, at least for some time. We found ourselves before 
the cataract of Cariven, and the impulse of the waters was 
so strong, that we had great difficulty in gaining the land- 
We were continually driven back to the middle of the cur- 
rent. At length two Salive Indians, excellent swimmers, 
leaped into the water, and having drawn the boat to shore 
by means of a rope, made it fast to the Piedra de Cariehana 
Vieja, a shelf of bare rock, on which we passed the night- 
The thunder continued to roll during a part of the night ; 
the swell of the river became considerable; and we were 
several times afraid that our frail bark would be driven from 
the shore by the impetuosity of the waves. 
The granitic rock on which we lay is one of those, where 
travellers on the Orinoco have heard from time to time, 
towards sunrise, subterraneous sounds, resembling those 
of the organ. The missionaries call these stones laxas do 
mttsica. ‘ It is witchcraft (cosa de bruxas),’ said our young 
Indian pilot, who could speak Spanish. We never our- 
selves heard these mysterious sounds, either at Caricluiim 
Vieja, or in the Upper Orinoco ; but from information 
us by witnesses worthy of belief, the existence of a pheno- 
