434 
ESMEltALDA. 
the Ventuari as far as that of the Padamo ; the Caribbee 
prevails on the Lower Orinoco; the Ottomae, near the 
confluence of the Apure, at the Great Cataracts ; and the 
Maravitan, on the banks of the Rio Negro. These are the 
five or six languages most generally spoken. We were sur- 
prised to find at Esmeralda many zambos, mulattos, and 
copper-coloured people, who called themselves Spaniards 
(Espafioles) and who fancy they are white, because they are 
not so red as the Indians. These people live in the most 
absolute misery ; they have for the most part been sent hither 
in banishment (desterrados). Solano, in his haste to found 
colonies in the interior of the country, in order to guard its 
entrance against the Portuguese, assembled in the Llanos, 
and as far as the island of Margareta, vagabonds and male- 
factors, whom justice had vainly pursued, and made them go 
up the Orinoco to join the unhappy Indians who had been 
carried off from the woods. A raineralogical error gave cele- 
brity to Esmeralda. The granites of Duida and Maraguaca 
contain in open veins fine rock-crystals, some of them of great 
transparency, others coloured by chlorite or blended with 
actonite ; these were mistaken for diamonds and emeralds. 
So near the sources of the Orinoco we heard of nothing in 
these mountains but the proximity of El Dorado, the lake 
Parima, and the ruins of the great city of Manoa. A main 
still known in the country for his credulity and his love ol 
exaggeration, Don Apollinario Diez de la Puente, assumed the 
pompous title of capitan jwblador, and cabo militar (military 
commander) of the fort ot Cassiguiare. This lort consisted ot 
a few -trunks of trees, joined together by planks ; and to com- 
plete the deception, a demand was made at Madrid for the 
privileges of a villa for the mission of Esmeralda, which but 
a hamlet with twelve or fifteen huts. A colony composed of 
elements altogether heterogeneous perishc d by degrees. The 
vagabonds of the Llanos had as little taste for labour as 
the natives, who were compelled to live “ within the sound 
of the bell.” The former found a motive in their pride to 
justify their indolence. In the missions, every mulatto who 
is not decidedly black as an African, or copper-coloured as 
an Indian, calls himself a Spaniard ; he belongs to the gente 
de razan, — the race endued with reason; and that reason 
(sometimes, it must be admitted, arrogant and indolent) 
