516
VALLEY OF CAURA.
hundred and fifty souls. San L u i s de Guaraguaraico is a colony o f negroes, some freed and others fugitives from Essequibo. This c o l o n y merits the particular attention o f the Spanish G o v e r n m e n t , for it can never he sufficiently r e c o m m e n d e d to endeavour to attach the slaves to the soil, and suffer them to enjoy as farmers the fruits o f their agricultural labours. T h e land on the Caura, for the most part a virgin soil, is extremely fertile. There are pasturages for more than 15,000 beasts; but the poor inhabitants have neither horses nor horned cattle. More than five-sixths o f the banks o f the Caura are either desert, or occupied by independent and savage tribes. T h e bed o f the river is twice c h o k e d u p b y r o c k s : these obstructions occasion the famous Raudales o f M u r a and o f Para or Paru, the latter o f which has a Portage, because it cannot be passed by canoes. At the time o f the expedition o f the b o u n daries, a small fort was erected on the northern cataract, that o f M u r a ; and the governor, Don Manuel C e n t u r i o n , gave the name o f Ciudad de San Carlos t o a few houses, which s o m e families consisting o f whites and mulattoes, had c o n t r u c t e d near the fort. South o f the cataract o f Para, at the confluence o f the Caura and the Erevato, the mission o f San Luis was then situated; and a road by land led thence to Angostura, the capital o f the province. All these attempts at civilization have been fruitless. N o village now exists above the Raudal o f M u r a ; and here, as in many other parts o f the c o l o n i c s , the natives may be said to have reconquered the c o u n t r y from the Spaniards. T h e valley of Caura may b e c o m e o n e day o r other highly interesting from the value of its p r o d u c t i o n s , and the c o m m u n i c a t i o n s which it affords with the Rio Ventuari, the Carony, and the C u y u n i . I have shown above the importance of the four tributary streams which the O r i n o c o receives from the mountains o f Parima. Near the mouth o f the Caura. between the villages of San Pedro do Alcantara and San Francisco de Aripao, a small lake o f four hundred toises in diameter was formed in 1790, by the sinking o f the g r o u n d , c o n s e q u e n t on an earthquake. It was a portion o f the forest o f Aripao, which sunk to the depth of eighty or a hundred feet below the level o f the n e i g h b o u r i n g land.
T h e trees remained g r e e n for several