TJ1K RIO META. 
229 
From Cabruta to tbe mouth of the Eio Sinaruco, a 
distance of nearly two degrees of latitude, the left bauk of 
the Orinoco is entirely uninhabited; but to the west of 
the j Eaudal de Cariven an enterprising man, Don Felix 
kelinchon, had assembled some Jaruro and Ottomac Indians 
111 a small village. It is an attempt at civilization, on which 
the monks have had no direct influence. It is superfluous 
to add, that Don Felix lives at open war with the mis- 
sionaries on the right bank of the Orinoco. 
Proceeding up the river we arrived, at nine in the morning, 
before the mouth of the Meta, opposite the spot where the 
Mission of Santa Teresa, founded by the Jesuits, was here- 
tofore situated. 
Eext to the G-uaviare, the Meta is the most considerable 
^ver that flows into the Orinoco. It may be compared to 
the Danube, not for the length of its course, but for the 
'olume of its waters. Its mean depth is thirty-six feet, 
■'nd it sometimes reaches eighty-four. The union of these 
t"'o rivers presents a very impressive spectacle. Lonely 
'°cks rise on the eastern bank. Blocks of granite, piled 
’iP 0n one another, appear from afar like castles in ruins. 
; ast sandy shores keep the skirting of the forest at a distance 
r om the river; but we discover amid them, in the horizon, 
solitary palm-trees, backed by the sky, and crowning the 
to ps of the mountains. We passed two hours on a large 
tock, standing in the middle of the Orinoco, and called the 
J +edra de la Paciencia, or the Stone of Patience, because 
he canoes, in going up, are sometimes detained there two 
t a .ys, to extricate themselves from the whirlpool caused by 
W >is rock. 
h'he llio Meta, which traverses the vast plains of Casa- 
0 p r ®> an< i which is navigable as far as the foot of the Andes 
an , ’ ew Grenada, will one day be of great political import- 
t j lee to the inhabitants of Guiana and Venezuela. From 
lri u Oolfo Triste and tbe Boca del Drago a small fleet 
t M S° up the Orinoco and tbe Meta to within fifteen or 
p. ent J leagues of Santa Fe de Bogota. The flour of .New 
a r ' e, iada may be conveyed tbe same way. The Meta is like 
sanf i eonununicatiou between countries placed in the 
p le latitude, but differing in their productions as much as 
a nce and Senegal. The Meta has its source in the union 
