436
A MONKISH REVOLUTION.
t o a place o f proscription. This great distance o f t h e coast from the scene o f this revolution led the m o n k s to h o p e that their crime would remain long unknown b e y o n d the G r e a t Cataracts. T h e y wished t o gain t i m e t o intrigue, t o negotiate, to frame acts of accusation, and e m p l o y the little artifices b y which, in every c o u n t r y , the invalidity o f a first election may b e proved. Fray G u t i e r e z de A g u i l e r a languished in his prison at Esmeralda, and fell dangerously ill from the double influence o f the excessive heat, and the continual irritation o f the mosquitos. Happily for the fallen power the m o n k s did not remain united. A missionary of the Cassiquiare conceived serious alarms respecting the issue o f this affair ; he dreaded b e i n g sent a prisoner to Cadiz, or, as they say in the colonies, having his name on the list ( b a x o partido de registro). Fear overcame his resolution, and he suddenly disappeared. Indians were p l a c e d o n the watch at the mouth o f the A t a b a p o , at t h e G r e a t Cataracts, and wherever the fugitive was likely to pass on his way to the L o w e r O r i n o c o . Notwithstanding these precautions, he arrived at A n g o s t u r a , and then reached the college of the missions of Piritu ; d e n o u n c e d his c o l l e a g u e s : and was appointed, in r e c o m p e n s e o f this information, to arrest those with whom he had c o n spired against the president o f the missions.* A t Esmeralda, where the political events that have agitated E u r o p e for thirty years past have not yet been heard of, lively interest, is still felt in an event which is called " t h e sedition o f the m o n k s , " (el alboroto de los friales.) In this c o u n t r y , as in the East, n o c o n c e p t i o n is formed o f any other revolutions than those that are made by rulers t h e m s e l v e s ; and we have just seen that the effects arc not very alarming. If the villa, o f Esmeralda, with a population o f twelve o r fifteen families, be at present considered as a frightful place o f abode, this must be at attributed to the want o f cultivation, the distance from every other inhabited c o u n t r y , and the e x c e s * Two of the missionaries, considered as the leaders of the insurrection, were embarked at Angostura, in order to he tried in Spain. The vessel in which they were conveyed became leaky, and put into Spanish Harbour in the island of Trinidad. The governor Chacon intereated himself in the fate of the monks ; they went pardoned a violent proceeding somewhat inconsistent with monastic discipline, and were again employed in the mistions. I was acquainted with them both during my abode in South America,