CABICHANA. 
491 
cataracts. The little monkeys which we had carried along 
with us for months, were deposited on the point of our 
island. Wet by the rains, and sensible of the least lowering 
of the temperature, these delicate animals sent forth 
plaintive cries, and attracted to the spot two crocodiles, the 
size and leaden colour of which denoted their great age. 
Their unexpected appearance made us reflect on the danger 
we had incurred by bathing, at our first passing by the 
mission of Atures, in the middle of the Kaudal. After long 
waiting, the Indians at length arrived at the close of day. 
The natural coffer-dam, by which they had endeavoured to 
descend, in order to make the circuit of the island, had 
become impassable, owing to the shallowness of the water. 
The pilot sought long for a more accessible passage in this 
labyrinth of rocks and islands. Happily our canoe was not 
damaged, and in less than half an hour our instruments, 
provision, and animals, were embarked. 
We pursued our course during a part of the night, to 
pitch our tent again in the island of Panumana. We recog- 
nized with pleasure the spots where we had botanized when 
going up the Orinoco. We examined once more on the 
beach of Guachaco that small formation of sandstone, which 
reposes directly on granite. Its position is the same as that 
of the sandstone which Burckhardt observed at the entrance 
of Nubia, superimposed on the granite of Syene. W e passed, 
without visiting it, the new mission of San Borga, where (as 
we learned with regret a few days after) the little colony of 
Guahibos had fled al monte, from the chimerical fear that we 
should carry them off, to sell them as pottos, or slaves. 
After having passed the rapids of Tabaje, and the Baudal of 
Gariven, near the mouth of the great Bio Meta, we arrived 
without accident at Carieliana. The missionary l-eceived us 
with that kind hospitality which he extended to us on our 
first passage. The sky was unfavourable for astronomical ob- 
servations’; we had obtained some new ones in the two Great 
Cataracts ; but thence, as far as the mouth of the Apure, 
we were obliged to renounce the attempt. M. Bonpland 
had the satisfaction at Carieliana of dissecting a manati more 
than nine feet long. It was a female, and the flesh appeared 
to us not unsavoury. I have spoken in another place of the 
