24 
FORT SAN GABRIEL. 
the Isanna on a second expedition, undertaken with the pretext of pressing Indians for the navy, but in fact to secure them as slaves. 
The trees and shrubs had been cleared away wherever it was thought they might impede an open prospect, and serve as a cover to 
the enemy, and the few men who had been left at the fort had a most harassing duty to perform. To increase their difficulties and 
perilous situation, the commandant was short of ammunition, and the whole stock of powder did not amount to twenty pounds. San 
Gabriel, as well as other places in the magnificent province of Rio Negro, has suffered from the destructive influence of political disturbances. 
Flourishing villages formerly existed where their name is now alone to be found ; numerous boats were then trading between Gram Para 
on the moiith of the Amazon, and the Upper Rio Negro, an inland navigation of fourteen hundred miles, almost without impediment, 
and now there is hardly a vessel. 
The largest cataract in this river occurs just below the fort; we estimated its fall at about twenty feet, and it is considerable 
enough to oblige the canoes to be unloaded, and the baggage to be transported for about a mile over land. The view from the foot of 
this cataract is very lovely ; the fortress with mount Arruyabai on the western bank, the river broken up by a number of islets and 
cataracts, and the mountains of Wamari-mapan, and that interesting hill which we have named Cerro do Equador, unite in forming a 
picturesque landscape. The black appearance of the water, where it is not agitated and foaming, contrasts strongly with the white banks 
and the lively green of the trees on its borders. 
That kind of boat, which is represented in the view of San Gabriel as ready to enter the surge at the foot of the cataract, is 
called an Igaritea. Arrived at the cataract, it is drawn by means of ropes through the rushing water, and over the rocks which 
impede the passage of the river. The canoe of the natives is very different to the Igaritea of the Brazilians — the smallest is a Pakassa, 
or light boat, merely made of the bark of a tree. In British Guiana, the colonists call those frail boats “ wood-skins.” 
We had to transport our baggage over land to the lower port, or “ embarcadero,” while the empty corial, under the guidance 
of our pilot, passed the fall in safety, and re-embarked at eight o’clock in the morning ; and quickly carried forward by a strong current, 
caused by the continual rapids of Cujubi, for two hours, we again entered comparatively smooth water, opposite the small settlement of Cuma- 
nau. These falls and rapids extend for about twenty miles, and the most dangerous passes are called Poredao, Hurnas, and Cujubi. 
A melancholy and utter picture of desolation meets the eye on descending the Rio Negro : houses in ruins, and without inhabitants ; 
the plants clambering over the roofs, and the high bushes and grass before the door. During a journey of several weeks, and over 
an extent of more than five hundred miles on the Rio Negro, after entering the Brazilian territory, we saw only one native boat, with 
two Indians in her, who fled as soon as they got sight of our canoe. This desolation, so different to the cheerfulness we had observed 
in the Venezuelan villages on the Cassiquiara and in San Carlos, is caused by the oppression which the Indians receive from those 
petty officers to whom the official duties are entrusted, and who compel the Indians to work with no other pay than a slender sub- 
sistence. This is sufficient to ruin commerce and agriculture, and cause the desertion of the Indians. For want of hands the inhabitants 
are obliged to abandon their plantations, and the canoes, deprived of their crews, remain stationary for months together. 
With the best wishes of the Government at Para for the object of our expeditions, and an inclination to afford us every assistance, the 
latter circumstance would have befallen us on descending the Rio Negro, but I had brought Avith me a crew of Warraus and Macusis, 
increased by Maiongkongs and Guinaus from the Parima mountains ; and independent of the assistance of the natives of the Rio Negro, we 
reached Marina, or Barcellos, in twenty-one days from the time we had left Esmeralda, having made a distance of five hundred and seventy- 
five miles in boats. We descended the Rio Negro about a hundred miles more, to Pedrero, or Itarendana, and entering the Rio 
Branco, we ascended that river for about three hundred miles, in its winding course, and eventually reached our starting point, at Fort 
San Joaquim, after an absence of seven months, during which period we had made a circuit of two thousand two hundred geographical 
miles, partly over land, partly in boats, and comprising tracts which never before had been trodden by the foot of a white man. We 
awaited for the setting-in of the rainy season, and inundation of the rivers, and then transported our large canoe, which I had bought in 
the river Paramu, a tributary of the upper Orinoco, over a short portage of about eight hundred yards from lake Amucu into the 
Quatata, which communicates with the Rupununi. It soon floated on the latter river, and carried rapidly forward by a strong 
current, Ave, on the 17th of June 1839, approached the Protestant mission at Bartika Point, situated at the confluence of the river 
Mazuruni with the Essequibo ; and the hoisting of flags, and firing of guns, gave us a proof of the kind interest which the inhabitants took 
in our safe return. 
Tavo and twenty months had elapsed since we passed this spot, on our ascent up the Essequibo, and bade adieu to civilized 
life and its comforts, and after having made a circuit of upwards of three thousand miles, were noAV, by the blessing of Providence, 
returning in safety to Georgetown. 
