THE INDIA'S
481
ZEREPE.
T h e passage o f the c a n o e t h r o u g h the G r e a t Cataract Obliged us t o stop t w o days at M a y p u r e s . Father B e r n a r d o Z e a , missionary at the Raudales, who had accompanied us t o t h e R i o N e g r o , t h o u g h ill, insisted o n c o n d u c t i n g u s with his I n d i a n s as far as A t u r e s . O n e o f these Indians, Z e r e p e , the interpreter, w h o had been so unmercifully punished at t h e beach o f Pararuma, rivetted o u r a t t e n t i o n b y his a p pearance o f deep sorrow. W e learned that his grief was caused b y the loss o f a y o u n g girl t o w h o m he was e n g a g e d , and that he had lost her in c o n s e q u e n c e o f false intellig e n c e which had b e e n spread respecting the direction o f o u r journey. Z e r e p e , w h o was a native of Maypures. had been brought up in the w o o d s by his parents, w h o were o f the tribe o f the M a c o s . He had b r o u g h t with him t o t h e mission a girl o f twelve years o f age, w h o m he intended t o marry at o u r return from the Cataracts. T h e I n d i a n girl was little pleased with the life of the missions, and she was told that the whites w o u l d g o t o t h e c o u n t r y o f the P o r t u g u e s e ( B r a z i l ) , and would take Z e r e p e with them. Disappointed in her hopes, she seized a boat, and with another girl o f her o w n age, crossed the G r e a t Cataract, and fled al monte. T h e recital o f this c o u r a g e o u s adventure was t h e great n e w s o f t h e place. T h e affliction o f Z e r e p e , however, was n o t o f l o n g duration. B o r n a m o n g the Christians, having travelled as far as the foot o f the R i o N e g r o , u n d e r standing Spanish and the language of the Macos, he t h o u g h t himself superior to the people o f his tribe, and he no d o u b t soon forgot his forest l o v e . O n the 3 1 s t o f M a y we passed the rapids o f Guahibos and G a r c i t a . The islands which rise in the middle o f the waters of the river, were overspread with the purest verdure. T h e rains o f winter had unfolded the spathes o f the vadgiai palm-tree, the leaves o f which rise straight toward the sky. T h e eye is never wearied o f the view o f those scenes, where the trees and rocks give the landscape that grand and severe character which we admire in the b a c k g r o u n d of the p i c tures o f Salvator Rosa. W e landed before sunset on the eastern hank o f the O r i n o c o , at the Puerto de la Expedicion, in o r d e r to visit the cavern o f A t a r u i p e , which is t h e place o f sepulchre o f a whole nation destroyed. I shall a t t e m p t t o describe this cavern, so celebrated a m o n g the natives. VOL. I I .
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