HINDRANCE TO OUR JOUR.NET. 
*67 
Erevato It is certain, however, that in the mountainous 
lands, Detween the sources of the Padamo and the Ventuari 
(near the sites called by the Indians Aurichapa, Ichuana, 
and Irique) there are many spots where the climate is 
temperate, and where there are pasturages capable of feed- 
ing numerous herds of cattle. The military posts were 
very useful in preventing the incursions of the Caribs, who, 
from time to time carried off slaves, though in very small 
numbers, between the Erevato and the Padamo. They 
■would have resisted the attacks of the natives, if, instead 
of leaving them isolated and solely to the control of the 
soldiery, they had been formed into communities, and go- 
verned like the villages of neophyte Indians. 
We left the mission of Esmeralda on the 23rd of May. 
Without being positively ill, we felt ourselves in a state 
of languor and weakness, caused by the torment of in- 
sects, bad food, and a long voyage, in narrow and damp 
boats. We did not go up the Orinoco beyond the 
mouth of the Rio Guapo, which we should have done, if 
we could have attempted to reach the sources of the river. 
There remains a distance of fifteen leagues from the Guapo 
to the Randal of the Gruaharibos. At this cataract, which is 
passed on a bridge of lianas, Indians are posted armed with 
bows and arrows, to prevent the whites, or those who come 
from their territory from advancing westward. How could we 
hope to pass a point where the commander of the Rio Negro, 
Don Francisco Bovadilla, was stopped when, accompanied by 
his soldiers, he tried to penetrate beyond the Gehette ?* The 
carnage then made among the natives has rendered them 
more distrustful, and more averse to the inhabitants of 
the missions. It must be remembered that the Orinoco 
had hitherto offered to geographers two distinct problems, 
alike important, the situation of its sources, and the mode 
of its communication with the Amazon. The latter problem 
formed the object of the journey which I have described ; 
with respect to the discovery of its sources, that remains 
to be done by the Spanish and Portuguese governments. 
Our canoe was not ready to receive us till near three 
o’clock in the afternoon. It had been filled with innu* 
* See p. 461. 
2 h 2 
