ESMERALDA ON THE ORINOCO. 
Latitude, 3° 11/ N. Longitude, 66° 3' W. 
ALTHOUGH Esmeralda has not excited the same interest as that which has been attached to El Dorado, it has yet attained some 
celebrity, and in consequence of a mineralogical error, it attracted general attention towards the middle of the last century. During 
the general search in the newly discovered continent for mountains impregnated with gold and boundless riches, the rock-crystals 
which were found at the mountains of Duida and Maravaca, some of them of great transparency, others coloured by chlorine or 
blended with actinolite, were taken for diamonds and emeralds ^ ; and to the miserable hamlet of twelve or fifteen huts, the pompous 
title “Nueva Villa de Esmeraldas’' was given. In later times it has been brought again into remembrance by the journey of Baron 
de Humboldt, who visited Esmeralda, in May 1800, and made it his extreme point in his remarkable ascent of the Orinoco. The 
hostility of the Indians, who inhabit the upper part of the Orinoco, prevented him from advancing further. 
One of the ulterior objects of these expeditions, which were undertaken in the interior of Guiana under the direction of the Royal 
Geographical Society, was to connect the positions astronomically ascertained in British Guiana, with Esmeralda, the most easterly 
point determined by Baron de Humboldt ; to effect which, we had to traverse seven hundred miles of a country never yet trodden by any 
European, as far as we know, and to suffer privations and fatigues of every description. As already related, we entered the Oidnoco by 
its tributary the Paramu, or Padamo, on the 21st of February, 1839, and encamped that night opposite to the mouth of the Wapo. 
Our camp was broken up next morning at six o’clock, in full expectation of reaching Esmeralda that day. Light, fleecy clouds 
enveloped Mount Duida, but they vanished after the sun rose above the horizon, and for the first time we had a full view of these 
stupendous rocky masses, partly illuminated by the rays of the morning sun. Our progress was attended by difiiculties; we got 
aground several times on sandbanks, and had to cross from shore to shore to avoid shallows, and to follow the winding course of the 
current. At length we came in view of a fine savannah, interspersed with thickets of trees, and tufts of Mauritia Palms. I knew it, 
from Humboldt’s description, to be Esmeralda, and some canoes, which were tied to the river’s bank, left us no further doubt. I 
cannot describe with what feelings I hastened ashore ; my object was realized, and my observations, commenced on the coast of Guiana, 
were now connected with those of Humboldt at Esmeralda. It is but due to that great traveller to acknowledge, that at times, when 
my own physical powers were almost failing me, and when, surrounded by dangers and difficulties of no ordinary nature, his approbation 
of my previous exertions cheered me on, and encouraged me to that perseverance which was now crowned with success. The emaciated 
forms of my companions, and my faithful Indian guides, told more than volumes what difficulties we had encountered. 
The village was a few hundred yards from the shore ; half way to it we were met by the Alcalde, who welcomed us in broken 
Spanish. His attire certainly did not bespeak his dignity, being nothing but a shirt made of the bark of a tree. He led us to his hut 
where his wife, children, and grandchildren were assembled, and while his Senora put some smoked fish and cassada before us, he made 
incessant inquiries respecting European affairs : he spoke of France and Paris, England and London, Prussia and Berlin ; he inquired 
what states were at war, and what Ferdinand VII was doing in Catalonia. The change of affairs in Spain was new to him, and he could 
not conceive how a Queen could govern there : equally wonderful to him was Donna Maria’s accession to the Portuguese throne. He 
mentioned Napoleon ; and indeed showed that he had a very fair acquaintance with European matters, which was accounted for, when he 
told me that he had served, during the late revolution in Columbia, as a sailor on board a privateer, under a Catalonian commander, and 
had been much in the West Indies. Old Antonio Yarumari was an Indian of the Ipavaquena nation, which inhabits the banks of the 
Durovaca, or Siapa, a river which falls into the Cassiquiare. After the independence of the Colombian republic had been declared, he 
had settled at Esmeralda, and was now surrounded by a numerous family, over which he presided. 
Thirty-nine years had now elapsed since Alexander von Humboldt visited Esmeralda, and found, in the most remote Christian 
settlement on the upper Orinoco, a population of eighty persons. The cross before the village still showed us that its inhabitants professed 
the Christian religion; but their number had dwindled to a single family — a patriarch, and his children and grandchildren. Of six houses 
which we found standing, only three were inhabited ; their plastered walls, and massive and well-finished doors, showed that they were not 
* De Humboldt’s Pers. Narr., vol. v, p. 506. 
G 
