SAN ANTONIO DE JAYITA. 
351 
the bed of the river. Our canoe remained fast for some 
minutes between two trunks of trees ; and it was no sooner 
disengaged than we reached a spot where several paths, or 
small channels, crossed each other, so that the pilot was 
puzzled to distinguish the most open path. Wo navigated 
through a forest so thick that we could guide ourselves 
neither by the sun nor by tho stars. ¥e were again struck 
during this day by the want of arborescent ferns in that 
country ; they diminish visibly from the sixth degree of north 
latitude, while the palm-trees augment prodigiously towards 
the equator. Fern-trees belong to a climate less hot, and 
a soil but little mountainous. It is only where there are 
mountains that these majestic plants descend towards the 
plains ; they seem to avoid perfectly flat grounds, as those 
through which run the Cassiquiare, the Temi, Inirida, and 
the Rio Negro. We passed in the night near a rock, called 
the Pic tint de Astor by the missionaries. The ground from 
the mouth of the Guaviare constantly displays the same 
geological formation. It is a vast granitic plain, in which 
from league to league the rock pierces the soil, and forms, 
Uot hillocks, but small masses, that resemble pillars or 
•mined buildings. 
On the 1st of May the Indians chose to depart long 
Wore sunrise. We were stirring before them, however, 
because I waited (though vainly) for a star ready to pass 
the meridian. In those humid regions covered with forests, 
the nights became more obscure in proportion as we drew 
Nearer to the Rio Negro and the interior of Brazil. We 
•'emained in the bed of the river till daybreak, being afraid 
°f losing ourselves among the trees. At sunrise we again 
entered the inundated forest, to avoid the force of the 
current. On reaching the junction of the Temi with an- 
other little river, the Tuamini, the waters of which are 
equally black, we proceeded along the latter to the south- 
west, This direction led us near the mission of Javita, 
Which is founded on the banks of the Tuamini; and at 
this Christian settlement we were to find the aid necessary 
t°r transporting our canoe by land to the Rio Negro. We 
md not arrive at San Antonio do Javita till near eleven in 
‘he morning. An accident, unimportant in itself, but 
*hich shows the excessive timidity of the little sagoins 
