330 
SAN FERNANDO DE ATABAFO. 
astronomical observations. One arm of the Orinoco, (the 
Cassiguiare,) running from north to south, falls into the 
Guainia, or Bio Negro, which, in its turn, joins the Marafion, 
or river Amazon. The most natural way, therefore, to g° 
from Angostura to Grand Para, would be to ascend the 
Orinoco as far as Esmeralda, and then to go down the 
Cassiquiare, the Bio Negro, and the Amazon; but, as the 
Bio Negro in the upper part of its course approaches very 
near the sources of some rivers that fall into the Orinoco 
near San Fernando de Atabapo (where the Orinoco abruptly 
changes its direction from east to west to take that from 
south to north), the passage up that part of the river between 
San Fernando and Esmeralda, in order to reach the Bi° 
Negro, may be avoided. Leaving the Orinoco near the 
mission of San Fernando, the traveller proceeds up the little 
black rivers (the Atabapo, the Temi, and the Tuamini), and 
the boats are carried across an isthmus six thousand toises 
broad, to the banks of a stream (the Cano Pimichin) which 
flows into the Bio Negro. This was the course which 
took. 
The road from San Carlos to San Fernando de Atabap 0 
is far more disagreeable, and is half as long again by the 
Cassiquiare as by Javita and the Cano Pimichin. In this 
region I determined, by means of a chronometer by B er ' 
thoud, and by the meridional heights of stars, the situation 
of San Balthasar de Atabapo, Javita, San Carlos del B l0 
Negro, the rock Culimacavi, and Esmeralda. "When 1,0 
roads exist save tortuous and intertwining rivers, when 
little villages are hidden amid thick forests, and when, in 3 
country' entirely flat, no mountain, no elevated object 13 
visible from two points at once, it is only in the sky that 
can read v ; here we are upon the earth. , 
San Fernando de Atabapo stands near the confluence ol 
three great rivers; the Orinoco, the Guaviare, and the 
Atabapo. Its situationis similar to that of Saint Louis or o 
New Madrid, at the junction of the Mississippi with the 
Missouri and the Ohio. In proportion as the activity 0 
commerce increases iu these countries traversed by immense 
rivers, the towns situated at their confluence will necessard? 
become bustling ports, depots of merchandise, and centre 
points of civilization. Father Gumilla confesses, that m 
