RAUDAL OF ATURES.
489
a m o n g w h o m everything is the p r o d u c e o f art, o r rather o f the m o s t ancient civilization, d o n o t c h a n g e their dwelling w i t h o u t carrying along with them t h e b o n e s o f their ancestors. Collins are seen deposited on the hanks o f great rivers, t o he transported, with t h e furniture o f t h e family, t o a r e m o t e province. These removals o f b o n e s , heretofore m o r e c o m m o n a m o n g t h e savages o f N o r t h A m e r i c a , are n o t practised a m o n g the tribes o f G u i a n a ; b u t these are n o t n o m a d , like nations w h o live exclusively b y hunting. W e staid at the mission o f A t u r e s only during the time necessary f o r passing the canoe through the Great Cataract. T h e b o t t o m of o u r frail bark had b e c o m e so thin that it r e quired great care t o prevent: it from splitting. W e t o o k leave o f the missionary, Bernardo Zea, w h o remained at A t u r e s , after having accompanied us during t w o months, and shared all o u r sufferings. This p o o r m o n k still c o n t i n u e d t o have fits o f tertian a g u e ; they had b e c o m e t o him an habitual evil, t o which he paid little attention. O t h e r fevers o f a m o r e fatal kind prevailed at A t u r e s o n o u r second visit. T h e greater part o f the Indians could not leave their h a m m o c k s , and w e were obliged t o send in search o f cassavabread, t h e most indispensable food o f the c o u n t r y , t o t h e independent b u t n e i g h b o u r i n g tribe o f the Piraoas. We had hitherto escaped these malignant fevers, which, I believe t o b o always c o n t a g i o u s . W e ventured t o pass in o u r canoe through the latter half o f t h e Raudal o f A t u r e s . W e landed here and there, t o c l i m b upon the rocks, which like narrow dikes j o i n e d t h e islands t o o n e another. Sometimes the waters force their way over the dikes, sometimes they fall within them with a hollow noise. A considerable portion o f t h e O r i n o c o w a s dry, because the river had found an issue by subterraneous caverns, i n these solitary haunts the rock-manakin with gilded plumage ( P i p r a r u p i c o l a ) , o n e o f t h e most beautiful birds o f the tropics, builds its nest. T h e Raudalito o f Carucari is caused by an accumulation o f e n o r m o u s b l o c k s o f granite, several o f which are spheroids o f live o r six feet in diameter, and they are piled together in such a m a n n e r , as t o form spacious caverns. W e entered o n e o f these caverns t o gather t h e confervas that were spread over t h e