RAUDAL OF OANUCAltl. 
2.39 
they break against the rocks. The jaguas and cucimtos 
' nt h plumy leaves, with which all the islands are covered, 
a eem like groves of pahn-trees rising from the foamy surface 
°1 the waters. The Indians, whose task it is to pass the boats 
empty over the raudales , distinguish every shelf, and every 
r°ck, by a particular name. On entering from the south you 
mid first the Leap of the Toucan (Salto del Piapoco) ; and 
between the islands of Avaguri and Javariveni is the Eaudal 
Javariveni, where, on our return from Bio Negro, we 
Passed some hours amid the rapids, waiting for our boat. A 
fireat part of the river appeared dry. Blocks of granite are 
heaped together, as in the moraines which the glaciers of 
Switzerland drive before them. The river is ingulfed in 
caverns ; and in one of these caverns we heard the water roll 
at once over our heads and beneath our feet. The Orinoco 
®eeins divided into a multitude of arms or torrents, each of 
hich seeks to force a passage through the rocks. We 
er e struck with the little water to be seen in the bed of 
he river, the frequency of subterraneous falls, and the 
Cu mult of the waters breaking on the rocks in foam. 
Cuncta fremunt undis ; ac muito murmure montis 
Spumeus invictis canescit fiuetibus aninis.* 
Having passed the Eaudal of Javariveni (I name here 
j. b y the principal falls) we come to the Eaudal of Canucari, 
crtned by a ledge of rocks uniting the islands of Surupa- 
ana and TTirapuri. When the dikes, or natural dams, are 
v two or three feet high, the Indians venture to descend 
J fJ . m in boats. In going up the river, they swim on before, 
t 11 rfj after many vain efforts, they succeed in fixing a rope 
b ° ne of the points of rock that crown the dike, they then, 
fill I", 611118 °f that rope, draw the bark to the top of the 
v .. ‘ -'h The bark, during this arduous task, often fills w ith 
, Cr ! at other times it is stove against the rocks, and the 
s e ^ lails ; their bodies bruised and bleeding, extricate them- 
%ii difficulty from the whirlpools, and reach, by 
I u yh lru ng, the nearest island. When the steps or rocky 
ar.j ers . aro very high, and entirely bar the river, light boats 
cmried on shore, and with the help of branches of trees 
Lucan, Pharsalia, lib. x, v. 132. 
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