28S 
PORTAGES OW THE BITERS. 
manganese, seem to justify this conjecture. They are found 
on all the stones, far from the mission, and indicate the 
former abode of the waters. In going up the_ rivei all 
merchandise is discharged at the confluence of the Rio 
Toparo and the Orinoco. The boats are entrusted to the 
natives, who have so perfect a knowledge of the raudal, that 
they have a particular name for every step. They conduct 
the" boats as far as the mouth of the Cameji, where the 
danger is considered as past. 
I will here describe the cataract of Quituna or Maypures 
as it appeared at the two periods when I examined it, in 
going down and up the river. It is formed, like that oi 
Mapaxa or Atures, by an archipelago of islands, which, to 
the length of three thousand toises, fill the bed of the river ; 
and by rocky dikes, which join the islands together. The 
most remarkable of these dikes, or natural dams, are Pun- 
marvmi, Manimi, and the Leap of the Sardine (Salto de l a 
Sardina) . I name them in the order in which 1 saw them 
in succession from south to north. The last of these three 
stages is near nine feet high, and forms by its breadth ;i 
magnificent cascade. I must here repeat, however, that the 
turbuleut shock of the precipitated and broken waters de- 
pends not so much on the absolute height of each step or 
dike, as upon the multitude of counter-currents, the group- 
ing of the islands and shoals, that lie at the foot of the 
raudalitos or partial cascades, and the contraction of the 
channels, which often do not leave a free navigable passage 
of twenty or thirty feet. The eastern part ot the catarac 
of Maypures is much more dangerous than the western, 
and therefore the Indian pilots prefer the left bank of 
river to conduct the boats down or up. Unfortunately) 
the season of low waters, this bank remains partly dry, mm 
recourse must be had to the process of portage; that is, the 
boats are obliged to be dragged on cylinders, or round log 3 - 
To command a comprehensive view of these stupendous 
scenes, the spectator must be stationed on the little moun- 
tain of Manimi, a granitic ridge, which rises from the 
savannah, north of the church of the mission, and is ify c ^ 
only a continuation of the ridges of which the raudalito 0 
Manimi is composed. We often visited this mountain, j° 
we were never weary of gazing on this astonishing spectam • 
