476 
MISSION OF SANTA BARBARA. 
variations, that remind us of the fortified camps (the pre- 
tended cities of vast extent) of the ancient and modern 
nomad tribes of Asia. In the oriental plains of South 
America, the force of vegetation, the heat of the climate, 
and the too lavish gifts of nature, have opposed obstacles 
still more powerful to the progress of human civilization. 
Between the Orinoco and the Amazon I heard no mention 
of any wall of earth, vestige of a dyke, or sepulchral 
tumulus ; the rocks alone show us (and this through a great 
extent of country), rude sketches which the hand of man 
has traced in times unknown, and which are connected with 
religious traditions. 
Before I quitted the wildest part of the Upper Orinoco, 
I thought it desirable to mention facts which are impor- 
tant only when they are considered in their connection 
with each other. All I could relate of our navigation from 
Esmeralda to the mouth of the Atabapo would be merely 
an enumeration of rivers and uninhabited places. From 
the 24th to the 27th of May, we slept but twice on land ; 
our first resting-place was at the confluence of the Bio 
Jao, and our second below the mission of Santa Barbara, 
in the island of Minisi. The Orinoco being free from 
shoals, the Indian pilot pursued his course all night, aban- 
doning the boat to the current of the river. Setting apart 
the time which we spent on the shore in preparing the rice 
and plantains that served us for food, we took but thirty- 
five hours in going from Esmeralda to Santa Barbara. The 
chronometer gave me for the longitude of the latter mission 
70° 3' we had therefore made near four miles an hour, 
a velocity which was partly owing to the current, and partly 
to the action of the oars. The Indians assert, that the cro- 
codiles do not go up the Orinoco above the mouth of the 
Bio J ao, and that the manatis are not even found above the 
cataract of Maypures. 
The mission of Santa Barbara is situated a little to the 
west of the mouth of the Bio Ventuari, or Venituari, exa- 
mined in 1800 by Father Francisco Valor. We found in 
this small village of one hundred and twenty inhabitants 
some traces of industry ; but the produce of this industry is 
of little profit to the natives ; it is reserved for the monks, or, 
as they say in these countries, for the church and the con- 
